As President and Chief Financial Officer of his family-owned business for twenty years, Rubén Hinojosa experienced first-hand the value of education and a trained workforce. Not one to sit on the sidelines, he was elected to the local school board and worked to address these issues in his community. From the school board, he moved to the Texas State Board of Education, where he served for ten years through 1984. Soon after that he was elected Founding Chairman of the Board of Trustees for South Texas Community College, a position he held from 1993 through 1996. Hinojosa was instrumental in leading the efforts to successfully create the South Texas I.S.D. magnet high schools system and the new South Texas Community College.

In 1996, Rubén Hinojosa was elected to the United States Congress representing the 15th Congressional District of Texas. He currently serves on two House committees: Committee on Education and the Workforce, where he is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Select Education; and the Financial Services Committee.  He also serves as Co-Chair of the Education Task Force for the Democratic Caucus, as well as Chairman of the Education Task Force for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

In Congress, Representative Hinojosa is widely recognized as a powerful voice for the aspirations of communities traditionally left behind in America's education system – low-income families, minorities, students with disabilities, English language learners and the children of migrant and seasonal farm workers. He ensures that federal education policy never loses sight of the young and fastest growing population in the country – Hispanic Americans. By focusing on a group of proven federal education programs that are critical to the Hispanic community, often referred to as the Hispanic Education Action Plan (HEAP), the Congressman has helped to secure dramatic increases in resources.

In higher education, Congressman Hinojosa has vaulted Hispanic-Serving Institutions to a position of prominence. In the 1998 amendments to the Higher Education Act, he succeeded in establishing a separate Title V of the Act dedicated to the development of HSIs. Since that time, funding for HSIs has grown from $12 million to nearly $95 million annually.

For his constituents, Congressman Hinojosa's advocacy has resulted in a surge of federal education funding in the 15th Congressional district of Texas. Since Congressman Hinojosa took office in 1997, the district has seen a 50 percent increase in federal education grants.