Dr. Cavazos, who was often called Larry by close acquaintances, had an inspiring personal story as the son of a Texas ranch foreman of Mexican American ancestry. A primary focus of Dr. Cavazos’s public life was improving educational opportunities for Hispanic students.
He was unanimously confirmed as education secretary by the Senate in September 1988, less than two months before that year’s presidential election between then-Vice President Bush and Democrat Michael S. Dukakis. On his first day as a Cabinet secretary, Dr. Cavazos conducted a news conference in both English and Spanish.
From the beginning, however, he faced several hurdles, including that he was a Democrat in a Republican administration. He took over a Cabinet department that Reagan had threatened to eliminate and whose budget had been cut in preceding years. He succeeded William F. Bennett, a headline-making conservative firebrand who reveled in provoking teachers’ unions, college professors and others in the educational establishment.
Although Dr. Cavazos was highly qualified to be education secretary, his selection was viewed by many in Washington as a ploy for Bush to win Hispanic votes in what was then a close campaign. The other two finalists for the job were also Hispanic. Dr. Cavazos’s first duties as education secretary included speeches and visits to schools in Texas, California and other states with large Hispanic populations.
Bush won the election in part by promising to be the “education president.” Dr. Cavazos aimed to improve dropout rates among minority students and to make bilingual education a federal priority. He often spoke of the need to persuade young people to stay in school.
“A couple years ago, I was at a school in Lubbock [Tex.] that was predominantly Hispanic and black,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1988. “This young man raised his hand, a little Hispanic fellow, and he said, `Doctor, what do you tell your parents when they tell you it is now time to quit school and go to work?’
“It was a devastating question to me personally. I know it’s true.”
Dr. Cavazos, who had a quiet, conciliatory manner, had no political experience before being tapped as education secretary and was not considered an influential member of Bush’s Cabinet. He publicly supported the concept of “school choice,” a proposal long cherished by conservatives in which parents could send their children to better schools across district lines.
But he angered Hispanic leaders and onetime educational allies by saying in a 1990 speech in Texas, “If that child cannot speak English the first day of school, that child is not ready to learn.”
Few long-range initiatives were carried out during Dr. Cavazos’s 27-month tenure as education secretary, and some staff members complained that their policy memos went unread. Others noted that Dr. Cavazos left the office at 4:45 every day, didn’t work weekends and spent most of his time traveling and giving speeches. His wife, who was trained as a nurse and was not on the federal payroll, accompanied him to meetings and on his trips, reviewed official documents, edited his speeches and had an office next to his.
In December 1990, Dr. Cavazos was summoned to the White House, where Bush’s chief of staff, John Sununu, reportedly told him that Bush wanted him gone by the end of the month. Dr. Cavazos was among the few people in Washington surprised by the move. In his resignation letter, he did not include the customary note of thanks to the president for the opportunity to serve.
“He didn’t do much. In fact, he didn’t do anything,” Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said of Dr. Cavazos at the time. Others said his hands were tied by an indifferent and sometimes hostile administration.
Lauro Fred Cavazos Jr. was born Jan….
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