Dozens of Latino advocacy groups are requesting congressional and Obama administration leaders to update the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to reflect the Latino community.

The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), representing of 40 Latino organizations, released its recommendations to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Patty Murray of Washington and Reps. Bobby Scott of Virginia and John Kline of Minnesota to consider ESEA provisions ensuring Latinos and English-learning students succeed academically.

Acknowledging ESEA as a civil rights bill, the NHLA recognized the bill's purpose is to ensure equal quality education access. Since its 1965 implementation, Congress has frequently updated ESEA, but NHLA says the last 50 years has not taken into account the growing Latino population in the classroom. NHLA noted the last 50 years saw the Latino population increase, nationally, from 3 percent to 17 percent, today.

"Latinos are also disproportionately young, representing over twenty-five percent of students in public schools. It is because of this growth in the Latino community that students of color are no longer the minority, but the new majority of students in our nation's public schools. Congress must update ESEA to meet the needs of our nation's new demographics, not roll back longstanding civil rights protections in this important civil rights law," wrote the NHLA in a letter published on Nov. 16.

The NHLA has previously opposed Senate bill S. 1177, known as the Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA), reportedly due to the removal of civil rights protections and failure to address the Latino community.

Using ECAA as a base, NHLA recommends ESEA to allow states and districts to intervene and help students if state-established goals are not met, report disparities in education resource access and guarantee the federal government ensures states "act in good faith" with its federal funds. The coalition also wants the ESEA to protect existing programs that benefit Latinos and English learners and focus funding in low-income schools.

The NHLA hopes the bill can be reauthorized in the current 114th Congress. The 40 Latino groups will also monitor the votes of the bill, if it comes to a final vote, for its congressional scorecard, which ranks all congressional lawmakers and their work for the Latino community.

The ESEA is commonly known as the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) bill, which was signed by President George W. Bush in 2002. Duncan has called for a new ESEA to replace NCLB.

"Let's dispense with No Child Left Behind, and give states more flexibility. No Child Left Behind created dozens of ways for schools to fail and very few ways to help them succeed, or to reward success. We need to do exactly the opposite," said Duncan last January.

He added, "Let's work together on a law that fosters innovation, that advances equity and access, and supports children and educators. A law that will help ensure that every young person in America is prepared for a future where success isn't based just on what you know, but on what you can do with what you know. ... In America, education has been a bipartisan cause -- and it must continue to be that."

To read the NHLA letter and full recommendations, click here.

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