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WINDHAM, Conn. June 29 -- As debate about bilingual education has swirled around the
country in the weeks since California voted to disband its bilingual programs in favor of a
one-year English immersion class, Windham's bilingual classrooms have a waiting list --
parents of both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking students are eager to enroll their
children. About 200 students take part in Windham's program, which started in the 1992
93 school year with kindergarten and has expanded a grade a year since. "The ability of
speaking in a second language is an absolute gift," said Jack Giordano, principal at North
Windham. "We're certainly positioning these students very well to be successful in the 21st
century." Two-way bilingual classes, which started in Canada as a way to teach French to
English speakers and now number 225 in the United States, are continuing to increase in
popularity nationally and here in Connecticut. (New York Times)
AUSTIN, June 28 -- Nearly three-fourths of Texans say it is important for public schools
to provide bilingual education, but fewer than half think current programs are effective,
according to the Texas Poll. The random telephone survey also found that Texans are divided
over the best way to teach students with limited English skills. About 38 percent of poll
respondents said students should be taught in their native language for a brief time - a year
or two - while 36 percent said such instruction should last as long as teachers and parents
think is necessary. Support for bilingual education in Texas stands in sharp contrast to the
views of California voters, who last month overwhelmingly adopted an initiative to
dismantle bilingual education programs. The ballot item was approved by 61 percent of
voters. In Texas, top elected officials have said there will be no similar movement to curtail
bilingual education in public schools. Gov. George W. Bush said only those bilingual
programs that are ineffective should be abolished.(Dallas Morning News)
DALLAS, June 28 -- Defending bilingual education and fighting vouchers will be among the
central issues when the League of United Latin American Citizens convenes its 69th annual
convention in Dallas on Sunday. Brent Wilkes, LULAC's executive director, said bilingual
education is an important option for families. "We support bilingual education as an
opportunity for parents and students," he said. "We don't think that it's the answer for every
student, but we certainly believe that they should have the option." Hector Flores, LULAC's
national vice president, said the league will be aggressive from the statehouse to the
courthouse when it comes to defending bilingual education in Texas. (Dallas Morning News)
SACRAMENTO, June 27 -- Saying it must obey "the people's will," the state Board of
Education decided Friday it is not empowered to grant waivers allowing bilingual education to
continue after Proposition 227 takes effect as early as this fall. By a 6-0 vote, the board
said it would not consider waiver requests by six school districts seeking to maintain their
bilingual education programs rather than adopt the English-immersion approach mandated
by the measure. "Turning away these waiver requests is hard, but 61 percent of the people
voted for Prop. 227," board member Gerti Thomas said. "That's the will of the people." The
board's vote upset about 50 bilingual education supporters who, for three hours, had sat
quietly through the meeting. Comprised of parents, teachers and school administrators, the
group was not allowed to address the board until after the vote. (Sacramento Bee)
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. June 26 -- Fearful that a beloved dual-language immersion
program will be outlawed by Proposition 227, Saddleback Valley school board members
voted this week to apply for charter school status and to create an alternative school. The
program would thus be exempt from the new state initiative. School officials still must
obtain approvals from the state to preserve dual immersion. The program at Gates
Elementary School in Lake Forest teaches two languages to 333 native-English- and native
Spanish-speaking students from kindergarten through sixth grade. (Los Angeles Times)
SAN FRANCISCO, June 25 -- Defenders of California's anti-bilingual education initiative
told a federal judge Wednesday that the law shouldn't be blocked because it may turn out to be
a good thing -- or, at least, a legal one -- for students not fluent in English. Responding to
an injunction request that was filed the day after voters overwhelmingly approved
Proposition 227 on the June 2 ballot, the state Board of Education said adoption of
appropriate regulations could bring the initiative in line with federal anti-bias laws. Until
those rules are laid down, said the board, it's impossible to decide the legality of the
initiative's plan for replacing bilingual education with a one-year program of intensive
English instruction. (Sacramento Bee)
ORANGE COUNTRY, June 23, -- A Saddleback Valley elementary school is searching the legal
limits of the state education bureaucracy for ways to save a popular "dual-immersion"
program, which teaches two languages to English- and Spanish-speaking students. The
program is in jeopardy after the approval of Proposition 227 by voters earlier this month,
school officials said. The school board today will consider applying for charter school status
or creating an alternative school to preserve dual immersion, school officials said. But state
education officials say the program may not be as endangered as local officials think.
"There's no program, per se, that's been made illegal," said Bill Lucia, executive director of
the state Board of Education. (Los Angeles Times)
SACRAMENTO, June 21 -- On the heels of his initiative victory in the primary election,
Proposition 227 author Ron Unz says his first order of business is to take a break and not
think about politics. On the other hand, the Silicon Valley software entrepreneur
acknowledges he already is contemplating what he might tackle next, now that he's derailed
bilingual education in California public schools. (Sacramento Bee)
WASHINGTON, June 17 -- California's vote this month to virtually eliminate bilingual
education is on the lops of educators and policymakers in other states with large immigrant
populations. But wheter that talk translates into action to retool such education remains to
be seen. Includes: "House Bill Would Alter Federal Bilingual Ed. Policy." (Education Week)
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. June 16 -- Texas school officials set up shop in Santa Ana on Monday
to recruit bilingual teachers in the wake of Proposition 227's passage, but few were
interested. The recruiters interviewed three applicants--none of them currently working
for school districts--and hired one, a recent graduate from a university in Missouri who
came to California looking for a job. The recruiters from the Arlington, Texas, Independent
School District move their recruiting office today to Culver City in the hope of signing up
bilingual and English as a second language (ESL) teachers in Los Angeles County. On
Wednesday, they interview in San Diego. The Arlington schools are jumping at the chance to
hire teachers affected by the passage earlier this month of a ballot measure that essentially
dismantles California's bilingual education programs. (Los Angeles Times)
ALBANY, N.Y. June 15 -- As California prepares to dismantle bilingual education for
immigrant children, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are moving in the opposite
direction, with plans to improve and even expand bilingual and intensive English programs
in public schools. One day after Californians voted last week to effectively end the
instruction of immigrant children in their native languages, education officials in New
Jersey approved new rules meant to strengthen it, including one that would allow bilingual
classes for children as young as 3. And in New York, education officials are planning to train
more bilingual teachers and allow some students to take college-preparatory examinations
in their native languages. (New York Times)
SACRAMENTO, June 13 -- In a meeting punctuated by an angry outburst from state Supt. of
Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, California's Board of Education on Friday vowed to move
quickly to develop emergency regulations to implement Proposition 227, the anti-bilingual
education measure approved by voters. Although opponents are seeking to block the measure
in court, the board said it will push ahead and meet weekly to iron out by Aug. 1 guidelines
on several vague aspects of the proposition--seeking to define what a one-year English
immersion program for non-fluent students should be like, what textbooks should be used
and how teachers should be trained. "The weekly meetings are absolutely essential because of
our serious commitment in going to work on this," said Marion Joseph, a board member
from Menlo Park. Several school districts, however, pleaded with the board for exemptions
from the proposition. And members of the state board--who are appointed by Gov. Pete
Wilson, a 227 backer--seemed worried that the will of the voters might be undermined by
the state Department of Education, headed by Eastin, who campaigned against the proposition.
(Los Angeles Times)
Albuquerque, June 13 -- Fourteen students are suing Albuquerque Public Schools,
demanding the district, in effect, scrap its bilingual programs. Plaintiffs favor a program in
which intensive English language assistance takes precedence over courses in which students
are allowed to study in their native languages. The case could go to court by January. The
lawsuit has the financial backing of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a national organization
that played a role in California voters' recent decision to eliminate most bilingual programs
in that state. (Albuquerque Journal)
SACRAMENTO, June 12 -- Members of the State Board of Education said they will discuss at
a meeting today whether to block the allocation of Proposition 227 funds earmarked for
adult education programs under investigation by the FBI. Federal authorities are conducting
an investigation of the state education department's allocation of millions of dollars in public
funds to community organizations that provide adult education, and the possible misuse of
funds by 10 of those groups. Proposition 227 virtually bans bilingual education from
California public schools, but sets aside $50 million a year in state funds for parents or
others who pledge to tutor children in English. The proposition mandates that the adult
education programs be offered by schools or community organizations. (Los Angeles Times)
LOS ANGELES, June 12 -- More than 500 students from at least three Los Angeles high
schools walked out of classes Thursday, with most converging downtown to protest passage of
Proposition 227, the anti-bilingual education measure overwhelmingly approved by voters
June 2. The largest yet in a series of protests against the measure had dispersed by
midafternoon, after chanting students marched to City Hall and a series of other government
buildings. The walkouts came as a federal judge set July 15 as the date he will hear oral
arguments in the legal challenge to Proposition 227. The Mexican American Legal Defense
and Educational Fund and other opponents will ask Judge Charles A. Legge to block
implementation of the initiative, arguing that its 60-day grace period does not allow school
districts time to overhaul their instructional programs. (Los Angeles Times)
NEW JERSEY, June 10 -- The day after Californians voted to abolish bilingual education,
New Jersey extended its program. Last week, the state Board of Education gave its stamp of
approval to the state's elementary and high school bilingual education plan by adding pre
kindergarten classes as well. Support in this state for bilingual education is stronger than in
California, perhaps because New Jersey's program, which began in 1974, requires students
to move more quickly to all-English classes. (New Jersey Bergen Record)
WASHINGTON, June 10 -- California's educators and its 1.4 million limited-English
proficient students are in limbo. Voters last week overwhelmingly approved a ballot
initiative that calls for the virtual elimination of bilingual education from the state's public
schools. Now, officials in districts statewide are waiting to find out what happens next.
(Education Week)
LOS ANGELES, June 10 -- Perplexed and tongue-tied, California's cities and counties join
dumbfounded merchants in court today to try to stop enforcement of an obscure clause of
Proposition 227, the initiative curtailing bilingual education, which passed in a voter
stampede last Tuesday. That rule, evidently unnoticed by millions of voters, requires that
virtually every aspect of public life also be translated into English within one year--the
same amount of time the more publicized aspect of Proposition 227 gives schoolchildren for
English immersion. Observers predict language pandemonium across California, on
everything from city names to restaurant menus. (Los Angeles Times)
NEW YORK, June 10 -- With the defeat of bilingual schooling in California, educators
around the country are examining that program's ill-fated path and drawing parallels to the
outcome of other educational innovations of recent decades. They say the story of bilingual
education -- its rise in the 1960s, preceded by little research or experience in it; its
mushrooming bureaucracy; the passion of its ill-prepared implementation, and, in
California at least, its sudden abandonment for an equally unproved method -- is the story of
American education. Whether the issue is reading or mathematics, outcome-based education
or open classrooms, public schooling in this country lurches from one trend to its opposite
with alarming speed and little forethought, they say. (New York Times)
NEW YORK, June 9 -- When Farzana Afroze and her family arrived in the United States
from Dacca, Bangladesh, two years ago they settled in Astoria, Queens. Farzana was 14 and
spoke only Bengali. Her parents couldn't afford private English lessons for her ‹ the father
is a restaurant worker and the mother a seamstress ‹ so they enrolled her at Newcomer
High School, which is practically a mini-UN. She was shocked to find a bunch of Bengali
students at Newcomer. "There are about 50 or 60," Farzana said. "We even have a Bengali
teacher." Administrators placed her in the bi-lingual program. She took basic courses in
her native tongue while she studied English three hours each day. "The Bengali classes helped
a lot since I was afraid of being here, and Bengali seniors gave me support," she said.
Farzana performed so well that later this month she will graduate among the top 10 students
in her class, and she expects to enroll this fall in a pre-med program at the State University
of New York at Oneonta. (New York Daily News)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas June 8 -- Texas ranks third in the nation, after California and New
York, in the number of students in bilingual classes. Most of the students in the Texas
program speak Spanish. But unlike California, where voters last week voted to severely
curtail bilingual education, Texas has no similar plans. Students who start their schooling
with little or no English are taught mostly in Spanish through elementary school.
(Philadelphia Inquirer)
LOS ANGELES, June 7 -- The president of the California Teachers Assn. on Saturday urged
the group's 280,000 members to teach according to the provisions of Proposition 227, the
controversial anti-bilingual education initiative passed by voters last week. But union
officials also made it clear that teachers who are sued under the terms of the proposition for
"curricular malpractice"--meaning that they fail to use enough English in the classroom-
will be aggressively defended by the union in court. To a Los Angeles ballroom full of the
union's local leaders, CTA President Lois Tinson bemoaned the victory of Proposition 227,
which the union spent more than $600,000 trying to defeat. But, she told the union's State
Council, "I count on you to be sure teachers know they must comply with the law." (Los
Angeles Times)
SAN JOSE, June 7 -- Given California's recent history of nasty, politically charged court
fights over controversial ballot measures, the legal challenge mounted last week against
Proposition 227 seemed inevitable from the moment voters endorsed an end to bilingual
education in the state. Like Props. 209 and 187, which dismantled the state's affirmative
action programs and curtailed aid to illegal immigrants respectively, Prop. 227 landed in
court before the ink could dry on election returns. The early prognosis is poor for the
lawsuit filed Wednesday challenging the constitutionality of Prop. 227 -- that's based on the
analysis of legal experts as well as the absence of clear legal precedent in support of forcing
states to provide bilingual education. Also, the case has been assigned to one of Northern
California's most conservative federal judges, which won't help the suit's chances.
Depending on how the suit plays out, the big issue for Prop. 227's supporters and foes may
be the pace of the case. The initiative could pass legal muster relatively swiftly, like Prop.
209. Or it could languish in the courts for years, as did Prop. 187 and Prop. 140, the state
term limits initiative that just this winter survived an eight-year court battle. (Contra
Costa Times)
MIAMI, June 7 -- In California last week, voters approved a measure that will kill
bilingual education programs in its public schools. In Miami-Dade County, where bilingual
education continues to grow, some school officials already are working to see that
Proposition 227 does not spread here. And they are blasting the California vote. Leading the
movement is School Board Vice Chairman Demetrio Perez Jr., a Cuban-American who owns a
private school. "If California intends to entomb what yesterday it engendered, Miami-Dade
will assume the torch of leadership and reaffirm its programs," Perez said. At a board
meeting on Wednesday, Perez will propose a resolution to "reaffirm the importance of
bilingual and multicultural education in our school system." The California vote has angered
some educators in Miami-Dade County. " A great travesty occurred on June 2 in California,"
said Lourdes Rovira, executive director of bilingual education for Miami-Dade schools.
"Whether or not the California vote is based on bigotry, frustration, fear or ignorance,
countless students and future citizens will be without a marketable linguistic tool." (Sun
Sentinel South Florida)
HALTOM CITY, TX June 7 -- Texas educators say they have no plans to follow the Pacific
state's lead. Programs such as Birdville's, now in its seventh summer, confirm the strong
support of bilingual education among North Texas educators, they point out. Thousands of
students in North Texas speak a language other than English at home. More than 2,100 of
those students are enrolled in Northeast Tarrant County schools. The overwhelming majority
-- almost 1,700 -- are clustered in the Birdville and Hurst-Euless- Bedford school
districts. Birdville, for example, has students who speak 20 native languages. Birdville and
H-E-B are required to have bilingual programs taught by teachers who are fluent in the
students' native languages and certified in bilingual education. In Texas, any school district
with more than 20 students in the same grade who speak the same foreign language must
develop a bilingual program for them. (Star-Telegram, Fort Worth)
ST. PAUL, June 7 -- Minnesota educators say the California initiative, which bilingual
education advocates are challenging in court, isn't likely to have any ramifications here. The
state has few bilingual programs, and even as the population of non-English-speaking
children grows in Minnesota, "we just don't have the kind of problems and issues that they
have in California," said Luz Maria Serrano, director of English-language learning
programs in St. Paul schools. (Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune)
SAN FRANCISCO, June 6 -- Less than a week after voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot
measure to outlaw bilingual education in California schools, Bay Area districts are already
coming up with creative ways of getting around the new law. Calling Proposition 227
educationally unsound and even immoral, Bay Area districts responsible for educating
thousands of non-English-speaking children have come up with these ideas: -- Oakland,
Berkeley and San Jose districts want the state Board of Education to invent a waiver so they
can avoid implementing English-only classes. -- San Jose educators say that if the waiver
idea doesn't wash, they may join in the lawsuit filed Wednesday by civil rights groups trying
to block the law, or resort to litigation of their own.-- West Contra Costa schools are
operating under the assumption that federal loopholes will save them from having to drop
their bilingual education programs. -- San Francisco schools are going the route of civil
disobedience and are refusing to comply -- period. A notice sent home with San Francisco
students Thursday puts it plainly: ``S.F. Schools to Maintain Bilingual Programs.'' (San
Francisco Chronicle)
WASHINGTON, June 5 -- Two days after Californians voted to dismantle bilingual education,
a House committee approved a bill to prohibit schools from keeping any student in a
federally funded bilingual education program for more than three years. Playing off the
sentiment of the state's Proposition 227, the congressional bill also bars schools from
putting children in such classes without parental approval and consolidates the $349
million budget for federal bilingual aid into a single block grant program. Sponsored by Rep.
Frank Riggs (R-Windsor), the bill was approved on a straight party-line vote, with 22
Republicans supporting the measure and 17 Democrats voting against it. Although the Riggs
bill is far from assured of becoming law, Thursday's action is a harbinger of the
intensifying struggle in Washington concerning the issue of bilingual education. Changes in
existing programs appear almost inevitable, either this year or next, when the massive
Elementary and Secondary Education Act--of which bilingual aid programs are a part-
comes up for reauthorization. (Los Angeles Times)
WASHINGTON, June 5 -- Two days after Californians voted to dismantle bilingual education,
a House committee voted yesterday to overhaul federal aid for teaching pupils who speak
little or no English. The bill cleared the Education and Workforce Committee on a partisan
22-17 vote. It would favor programs that teach pupils in English and limit to three years
the time pupils could be taught in a native language other than English. The chief sponsor,
Representative Frank Riggs, Republican of California, said the bill is needed because many
children spend six or seven years in classes using their native language without ever
speaking English fluently. Federal law now sets no time limit. Riggs cited the California vote
against bilingual education as a reason for supporting his measure, then in off-the-cuff
remarks said it went too far. ''I personally feel that Proposition 227 is too draconian,'' he
said. ''This legislation is much more flexible.'' The House bill has implications for GOP
efforts to court Latino voters. Exit polling in California found substantial Latino opposition,
although earlier polls had indicated support. (Boston Globe)
ARLINGTON, Texas, June 5 -- In the wake of Proposition 227's passage, a Texas school
district is sending recruiters to Southern California to hire away bilingual teachers. The
Arlington schools hope to hire an estimated 20 bilingual teachers and nearly 25 teachers of
English as a second language to handle a rising population of Spanish-speaking students.
About 54,500 students are enrolled in schools in Arlington, a growing suburb equidistant
from Dallas and Fort Worth. Latino students account for 18% of the student population,
double the percentage of a decade ago. "We figure that there will be so many displaced
teachers in California, maybe we can entice a few out here," said Charlene Robertson, a
spokeswoman for Arlington schools. (Los Angeles Times)
BERKELEY, June 5 -- Voters in Oakland, Richmond, San Pablo and Berkeley -- where
bilingual programs are in full swing -- defeated the initiative; voters in Walnut Creek,
Pleasanton and Antioch showed strong support for the measure. The strongest vote for Prop.
227 came from the counties that have the fewest number of immigrants, said Bruce Cain,
associate director of the Institute for Governmental Studies at UC-Berkeley. "That tells you
that it's more of a symbolic vote than it is a vote by people who are actually affected by these
programs." Toni Oklan-Arko, West County's bilingual coordinator, said the vote count in her
part of the county suggests that parents who have firsthand experience with bilingual
programs opposed the measure. "It displays a heightened awareness of the importance of an
appropriate program for immigrant students and also a more educated electorate as to what
Prop. 227 was actually saying," Oklan-Arko said. Exit polls from the Los Angeles Times and
CNN revealed that Hispanics and blacks overwhelmingly rejected Prop. 227, contradicting
pre-election polls that predicted Hispanics would support the measure. (Contra Costa
Times)
WICHITA , June 5 -- A day after California voters decided to abolish bilingual education in
public schools, some Kansas state legislators said programs here should be re-evaluated to
determine their effectiveness. Sen. Tim Huelscamp, R-Fowler, said Tuesday he has received
complaints from constituents about bilingual education. And he said he wasn't surprised that
California's Proposition 227 passed by a 61- to 39-percent margin in a state with a large
Hispanic population. But educators here tell a different story. "The response for what we
call the dual-English program has been very positive," said Jackie Lugrand, who supervises
parent-teacher resources for the Wichita School District. "Parents have wanted to continue
the program." Spurred by the California campaign, educators involved in bilingual
education here have mounted a letter-writing campaign to ask the Kansas Legislature to
preserve funding for the program. (Wichita Eagle)
WASHINGTON (AP), June 5 -- A House panel approved a bill that would put new limits on
federal aid for bilingual education. The House Education and Workforce Committee passed the
measure 22-17 Thursday on a strict party-line vote. Californians voted two days earlier to
dismantle bilingual education. The legislation would end the current system of awarding
federal bilingual education money through a competitive program and instead give it in block
grants for states to use as they wish. Federal bilingual education programs cost $160
million this year. Riggs cited the California vote on Prop 227 as a reason for supporting his
measure, then in off-the-cuff remarks said it went too far. ``I personally feel that
Proposition 227 is too draconian,'' he said. The California proposition, being challenged in
court, would allow only one year's English immersion for children. The House bill has
implications for GOP efforts to court Latino voters, because exit polling in California found
substantial Latino opposition even though earlier polls had indicated support. (New York
Times)
LOS ANGELES, June 4 -- Undeterred by the large margin of victory for Proposition 227,
opponents of the ballot measure designed to dismantle bilingual education moved Wednesday
to block it in both the courts and the classroom. Even as a coalition of civil rights groups
filed a federal court lawsuit, another hoped-for avenue of relief from Proposition 227 was
closed down when State Board of Education officials said requests for exemptions from the
law would be rejected. Eight school districts--including those in Oakland, Fresno and San
Jose--have filed papers seeking a waiver from the proposition's requirement that, after one
year in English immersion programs, most children must be taught almost entirely in
English. (Los Angeles Times)
LOS ANGELES, June 4 -- Latino presence at the polls continued an upward trend Tuesday,
amounting to 12% of all California voters--double the number who voted in the 1994
primary, but not yet enough to determine the outcome of issues crucial to the state's fastest
growing population group, according to Times exit polls. On Tuesday, the diminutive size of
the Latino electorate compared to the group's 29.4% share of the California population led
Latino voters to lose the very fight that brought many to the polls. The issue was the
bilingual education abolition measure, Proposition 227, which the exit poll found was
second only to the governor's race in luring Latinos to vote. Latinos polled Tuesday said they
opposed the initiative by a margin of 2 to 1, many describing it as discriminatory, but it
passed in an almost mirror image of that vote. (Los Angeles Times)
LOS ANGELES, June 4 -- For the past year, states nationwide have been closely watching
California's battle over bilingual education, hoping to catch a glimpse of how Americans view
the controversial programs. On Tuesday, the message delivered by California voters could
hardly have been more clear. Their decision to virtually eliminate bilingual education is a
signal to states across the US: reform or die. The proposition, which passed by a 61-to-39
percent margin, will undoubtedly face court challenges that could tie up implementation of
the law for some time. But experts say the vote is significant because about two-thirds of
the state's Latino voters supported the proposition. (Christian Science Monitor)
BOSTON, June 4 -- The vote in California to dismantle bilingual education could not be
duplicated in Massachusetts, advocates of bilingual programs here said yesterday. But state
officials said it will be a major issue in the Legislature next year. The California vote ends
the country's largest bilingual education system within 60 days and replaces it with a one
year English immersion program. ''What happened in California is not based on fact, but on
personal feelings and fear,'' said Sandra Alvarado, director of the Latino Parents Association
in Boston. ''The reality is those children will not learn in a year. They will sink or swim.
We will not let that happen here.''Massachusetts has more than 44,000 bilingual-education
students, more than 10,000 in Boston, according to state data. (Boston Globe)
SAN FRANCISCO, June 4 -- Faced with a stunning defeat at the polls, opponents of a
California initiative scrapping bilingual education turned to the courts yesterday in a bid to
stop implementation of the measure. A coalition of educators, civil rights groups and
immigrant advocates asked a federal court for a temporary injunction to block Proposition
227. California voters approved the measure by a 61 percent to 39 percent margin in
Tuesday's primary vote. "Parents, including immigrant parents, should have the right to
make basic choices about their children's education," said Deborah Escobedo, a staff attorney
at Multicultural Education, Training and Advocacy. "All children, including immigrant
children, should have the right to learn academic English and have access to science, math
and history," she said. (Philadelphia Daily)
SAN JOSE, June 4 -- Just hours after voters overwhelmingly supported a measure to end
bilingual education, civil rights groups launched their counterattack Wednesday, appealing
to the courts to help schools keep their special language programs. The Mexican-American
Legal Defense and Education Fund, along with a half-dozen other civil rights groups, filed a
class-action federal lawsuit alleging that Proposition 227 violates the civil rights of non
English speaking children by requiring them all to be taught in English. The groups said they
would seek an injunction this week to prevent the initiative from taking effect in 60 days, as
the law now requires. At the same time, several school districts --including San Jose
Unified -- confirmed they planned to ask the State Board of Education next month for
waivers from all the provisions of the initiative. (San Jose Mercury News)
SACRAMENTO, June 3 -- California voters may once again be setting national trends -- this
time speeding up the teaching of English to young students who don't speak the language and
dampening a national Republican drive to limit the political clout of labor unions. An
initiative that would end most bilingual education programs, Proposition 227, won
overwhelming approval yesterday while Proposition 226, which would have required labor
unions to obtain permission from members before using their dues for political
contributions, was defeated. The anti-bilingual education measure imposes a crash course in
English, normally lasting a year, to replace bilingual programs that teach non-English
speakers in their native language as they gradually learn English, sometimes taking up to
seven years. (San Diego Union Tribune)
SAN FRANCISCO, June 3 -- True to pre-election polls, the anti-bilingual education measure
Proposition 227 won overwhelmingly last night -- leading opponents to announce they will
sue today to block the measure. Proposition 227 will outlaw nearly all classes taught in
languages besides English, and replace them with an English-language class lasting one
school year. The measure will affect California's 1.4 million non-English-speaking
students, or nearly one in four students. (San Francisco Chronicle)
SAN JOSE, June 3 -- Voters called for an end to bilingual education in public schools
Tuesday, overwhelmingly supporting a measure that makes California the first state to
require all students be educated in English. In a vote being watched across the country,
Proposition 227 held a strong lead from the beginning. It passed in nearly every county with
the exception of San Francisco and Alameda. (San Jose Mercury News)
CALIFORNIA, June 3 -- California voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved Proposition
227, which will end most bilingual education in a state with a large population of
immigrants. For 30 years, bilingual education programs have been racing to catch up with
immigrants and their children flooding into California at levels unmatched by any other
state. Over 100 different languages spoken by as many as 1.4 million students‹one-quarter
of California's entire enrollment ‹ echo in school hallways and classrooms. But polls
consistently showed voters of all parties and ethnic groups supporting Proposition 227. One
national bill by Rep. Pete King, R- N.Y., seeks an outright repeal of the 1968 Bilingual
Education Act and would eliminate the office of bilingual education entirely. It also would end
the use of all bilingual government forms and swearing-in ceremonies of new citizens.
(ABC News)
