The Underrepresentation of Latino Educational Leaders

Number of Hispanic

Superintendents in Texas

Lags Student Population Growth

By Shelby Webb   shelby.webb@chron.com

Houston Chronicle (March 28, 2018)

Hispanic students represent a majority of public school students in Texas but would be hard-pressed to find someone who looks like them in their local superintendent’s office.

Locally, former Houston ISD superintendent Richard Carranza’s departure for New York City’s top school job leaves just one Hispanic superintendent – Tomball ISD’s Martha Salazar-Zamora – among 55 school district leaders in the Greater Houston area.

An analysis of state superintendent data shows Greater Houston lags far behind other Texas metropolitan areas when it comes to hiring Latino leaders, even though more than 51 percent of students in the area are Hispanic.

Five districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are led by Hispanic superintendents, as are five in the Greater Austin area. Hispanic superintendents lead 12 districts in the San Antonio area, and six lead districts around El Paso.

Texas has higher rates of Hispanic school leadership than the rest of the country. Only about 3 percent of all superintendents nationwide are Hispanic compared with about 8 percent in Texas. The Lone Star state also is home to larger percentages of Hispanic students than the rest of the country – more than 52 percent of Texas students are Hispanic, compared with about 25 percent of students nationally.

And the number of Hispanic students in Texas continues to climb. From 2006 to 2016, Hispanic student enrollment increased by about 38 percent, according to the Texas Education Agency.

“It’s surprising when you look at the data,” said Armando Rodríguez, president of the Mexican American School Boards Association and a trustee in Canutillo ISD near El Paso. “I guess you hope in the future the representation changes. We have to ask, how do we create that pipeline?”

A 2017 study from the IZA Institute for Labor Economics found that minority students who have at least one teacher who looks like them in third, fourth and fifth grades “significantly reduces the probability that he drops out of high school,” especially among economically disadvantaged students. For African-American students with at least one black teacher in those grades, the study showed they had an increased likelihood of aspiring to attend a four-year-college. Rodríguez and Salazar-Zamora said the same likely is true for Hispanic students.

While the number of Hispanic students increases each year, however, the number of Latinos opting for careers in education remains low. Only about 23 percent of teachers in Texas are Hispanic, according to the TEA, as are about 23 percent of school principals. The Texas Education Agency does not parse out that data by district or region.

Low wages and a negative financial outlook often drive Hispanic college students away from education, said Stan Paz, executive director of the Texas Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents. He said students, especially those who are first in their families to go to college, often worry they will not be able to pay back student loans with the low wages new teachers typically receive.

Geography is another challenge. In Texas, Hispanic teachers and school leaders tend to be concentrated in areas such as the Rio Grande Valley, Paz said, and often do not leave. Salazar-Zamora agreed.

“There is a cultural sentiment that you stay near your family, and that is a beautiful thing,” Salazar-Zamora said. “We’re working to recruit in the Valley or from universities, but it is a challenge. It’s something we have to actively work toward.”

School boards are responsible for hiring superintendents, and in some districts that cater to large Hispanic populations, those boards do not reflect their communities. In Pasadena ISD, for example, only two of nine trustees are Hispanic, even though more than 80 percent of the district’s students are Hispanic and nearly 37 percent are English-language learners.

“Unless you have a board with Latino board members, it’s less likely they will be interested in hiring a Latino superintendent,” Paz said.

Salazar-Zamora, who also is president of TALAS, has begun to spearhead efforts to create mentorships for Hispanic educators, especially Latinas.

After she was named superintendent of Tomball ISD last year, Salazar-Zamora said she was surprised by the reactions of Latino families and staff members. Custodial and food service workers would beam when she addressed them in Spanish. Students were shocked to learn their superintendent spoke the same language as their parents.

“Just last night at our book tournament, I had a parent come up and she talked to her son in Spanish and said ‘do you know that she speaks Spanish, your superintendent speaks Spanish?'” she said. “She asked for me to take a picture with him. That really warmed my heart.”

Her presence does more than serve as a source of pride for the local Latino community, Paz said. It helps break down cultural and language barriers with Spanish-speaking parents, often encouraging them to become more involved with their child’s school.

It shows Hispanic students that they, too, can become leaders.

“I want students to know, regardless of who they are, that they can grow up and become the superintendent of their school district,” Salazar-Zamora said. “I want them to see role models they can emulate who look like them.”