All of what Miami-Dade has borrowed was not necessarily mandated by Texas education officials. School districts across Texas, including those in Houston, have latitude to go beyond state requirements. His school is among several Houston schools open Saturday mornings for tutoring. Sophomores who don't attend face detention. Though the districts are ethnically similar, there are key differences.
Incomes are higher there.
And the unemployment rate in Miami-Dade is almost double that in Houston, 6.7 to 3.8 percent. And blacks in Houston are also well represented in the city's power structure and play a large role in gathering the resources needed for black children to achieve. Like Paige, the schools superintendent, Houston Mayor Lee Brown is black, as is the city's police chief. America can't afford an underclass of blacks and Hispanics who can't function.