As the Central Valley’s has a high population of English learner and economically disadvantaged children, students tend to lag behind in academic performance. Over 50% of students in the Central Valley do not meet the state’s proficiency in math and reading. Students in the Central Valley have a lower graduation rate than the rest of the state and there are less students attending four-year colleges.
Latino students in California rank near the bottom and the gaps between Latinos and non-Latino students remains wide. According to a report by Ed Trust West, Latino children make up 54% of the K-12 public school population in California. Latino students have the lowest test scores, lowest graduation rates and more segregated schools than non-Latino students in California.
As elected officials in the Central Valley, we must work with our state and federal representatives to make sure our children have the tools necessary to succeed in school.
We worked throughout the Central Valley, going door to door and making phone calls to encourage Latinos to make their voice heard by getting out and voting. We visited over 48,000 households and called over 79,000 voters. We invested in radio, TV and social media. Based on turnout percentage from the Secretary of State’s Office, we are happy to report Latino participation increased in every area we targeted in the June 2018 Primary!