Tejano Origins in Mexican Texas — 8

Tejano water systems included the land units along the rivers called porciones, which were elongated land tracts. They included the dams, the irrigation canals or acequias, the aqueducts, and fields—many of which still carry water today. The influence of Hispanic water philosophy is fairly common in modern Texas, where vocabulary as well as law books include such words as suerte, porción, acequia, surco, agastodero, labor, arroyo, and canoa. Education was another major area of concern to the Tejano community. No other facet of life was so exclusively dependent on local support. Through their local Public Education Commission or the Comisión de Escuelas, Tejanos continually strived to erect a viable education system. Their objectives guided the educational efforts of later Tejano generations; and their ideals created a prototype for the successful system which Texas boasts today. Each municipality hired its own school teachers. Béxar hired José Antonio Gama y Fonseca, Victoriano Zepeda, and Bruno Huizar.^iv Goliad had a small school which served intermittently until 1821, employing soldiers from the presidio. Laredo established its school in 1825 when it hired Juan José Salinas as the teacher for twenty pesos per month from local contributors. One of the commendable efforts was that of Nacogdoches. In 1828, the Junta Piadosa began a determined effort in the community and in the state legislature to establish a school. Their proposals stimulated the legislature to initiate a new program of land grants for education. In fact, free education was one of the major provisions of a Tejano school ordinance entitled "Ordinance Which Shall Be Observed in the Public Free Primary School Dedicated to the Instruction of the Youth of the Vicinity of Béxar." But while Tejanos strived to stabilize life in their villas, they also had to provide for law and order for the surrounding ranchland as well.

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