\u201cI don\u2019t like politics,\u201d Dr. Cavazos told Texas Tech Today in 2015. \u201cI went there really to try and improve education, and I think we did a pretty good job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lauro F. Cavazos Jr., a Texas ranch foreman’s son who rose to become the first Latino to serve in a presidential Cabinet as U.S. Secretary of Education during the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, died this month at his Concord, Massachusetts home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Cavazos was a sixth-generation Mexican American, born on Jan. 4, 1927, the oldest of five children of Lauro Sr. and Tomasa (Quintanilla) Cavazos, whose ancestors settled in Texas long before it became a state in 1845. Lauro and his siblings were born on the King Ranch, the state\u2019s largest spread, near Kingsville. It is now a National Historic Landmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Aug. 9, 1988, President Ronald Reagan announced that he would nominate Dr. Cavazos to be Secretary of Education, a position he would hold until his resignation in 1990. On his first day as a Cabinet secretary, Dr. Cavazos conducted a news conference in both English and Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Cavazos aimed to improve dropout rates among minority students and to make bilingual education a federal priority. But he angered Hispanic leaders and onetime educational allies by saying in a 1990 speech in Texas, \u201cIf that child cannot speak English the first day of school, that child is not ready to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Cavazos was president of Texas Tech University from 1980-1988. As president of the university, he was the first alumnus and Hispanic-Latino to serve in the role.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Cavazos was 95.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cover Photo: Legacy.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Publisher\u2019s Note: This story is an aggregate from Associated Press<\/a>, NY Times<\/a>, The Hill<\/a>, and The Washington Post.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cI don\u2019t like politics,\u201d Dr. Cavazos told Texas Tech Today in 2015. \u201cI went there really to try and improve 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