The Dallas Morning News reported that Black flight out of Dallas is changing the racial makeup of the Dallas public schools. Hispanics are replacing black students, a trend that is taking place nationally. The 41,000 black students in the Dallas Independent School District make up 26% of the student population. That is a drop of over 33% in the past 10 years. Meanwhile, the district’s Hispanic population now comprises 68% of the students in the district.
Hispanic children present a different set of challenges than other minority groups familiar to American educators. In addition to learning subject material, many of them must learn a new language. In a time of national recession, deep educational cut by hard-pressed states and decreased spending for education, schools have to provide additional services for these students. They need to hire more multi-lingual instructors, new textbooks, and set up more ESL classes.