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Illinois State Senator Iris Martinez Delivers Democratic Hispanic Radio Address Today

Posted on: Saturday, 27 August 2005, 15:00 CDT

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Illinois State Senator Iris Martinez, the first Hispanic woman in Illinois to be elected to the State Senate, delivered the Democratic Hispanic Radio Address today. Martinez spoke about the need to fully fund our children's education, as they head back to school all around the country.

The audio of State Senator Martinez's address was heard through local Univision Radio, Latino Broadcasting Company, Radio Formula, Radiovisa, Radio Bilingue, and CNN en Espanol Radio affiliates.

Following is a translated script of the address in English:

Good morning, this is Iris Martinez. I am a State Senator in Illinois, but I am also a mother. As I speak to you this week students, including my daughter Jacklyn, are returning to the classroom all around the country.

It's a time of great anticipation and great hope. All parents want the very best for their children. Parents know that a good education opens the doors of opportunity to the American Dream. A good education is also about America's place in the world.

Although we have some of the best schools in the world, we have slipped to 28th place in math education and we've dropped from 3rd in the world to 15th in producing the scientists and engineers we need to keep up with today's global economy. In the Hispanic community, education remains a major challenge. Only just over half of Hispanics complete a high school education, and only some 11 percent complete a college degree.

If we don't do a better job of educating our young people, and if we don't improve education for the country's largest minority group, we put at risk our competitive edge in the world. Democrats believe that we must give education the high priority that it deserves.

We need a campaign to upgrade our schools across the board. We must also address issues critical to the success of our diverse Hispanic community, including bilingual education. That's why it was distressing to learn this week that the Bush Administration tried to hide a report on bilingual education, apparently because the findings did not match its political goals. Our children deserve better.

We have to put politics aside. We call on the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress to make the full and necessary investment in the No Child Left Behind act which they have currently shortchanged by $39 billion. Three (3) million of our children are being left behind, while thousands of well trained teachers who could be in the classroom today are not. And we must also put politics aside to help families with rising college costs that are keeping more than 400,000 students who could go to college out, because they can't afford it.

Democrats are determined to address these problems. We want to invest in more qualified teachers, smaller class sizes, more services to students who fall behind. We want to increase the teaching of math and science, to help us stay ahead. It's our commitment to the American Dream and to an America that is secure and leads in the world.

We ask you, the American people to stand with us...by letting the President and Republicans in Washington know that education is your priority too. Thank you for listening.

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Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, http://www.democrats.org. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

http://www.usnewswire.com

Source: U.S. Newswire

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