A statistical profile of Hispanic public school students

The Pew Hispanic Center has a new report looking at Hispanic students in public schools.

The number of such students nearly doubled from 1990 to 2006, to 20% of all public school students -- or 10 million students. In 2006, Hispanics were about half of all public school students in California, up from 36% in 1990. They were more than 40% of enrollment in Arizona.

Strong growth in Hispanic enrollment is expected to continue for decades, according to a recently released U.S. Census Bureau population projection. In 2050, there will be more school-age Hispanic children than school-age non-Hispanic white children.

Some findings from the Pew report, called, "One-in-Five and Growing Fast: A Profile of Hispanic Public School Students" and issued this week, follow:

• Eighty-four percent of Hispanic public school students were born in the United States.
• Seventy percent speak a language other than English at home.
• Nearly one-in-five (18%) of all Hispanic students speak English with difficulty.
• Fifty-seven percent of Hispanic students live in households with two parents, compared with 69% of non-Hispanic white students and 30% of non-Hispanic black students.
• More than a quarter of Hispanic students (28%) live in poverty, compared with 16% of non-Hispanic students. In comparison, more than a third of non-Hispanic black students (35%) live in poverty and about one in 10 non-Hispanic white students live in a poor household.

Pew Hispanic Center is a non-partisan, non-advocacy research organization based in Washington, D.C., and is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.