71% support dumping bilingual education
Tom Collins
Arizonans are ready to throw their support behind a November ballot measure that would do away with bilingual education in public schools, a new statewide poll shows. About 71 percent of the 400 people polled support Proposition 203, which would replace the state's bilingual education program with intensive classes in English. The proposition is on the Nov. 7 ballot. Twenty percent of those contacted oppose the proposition, and 9 percent are undecided. The KAET-TV-Arizona State University journalism school poll has a 4.9 percentage-point margin of error. The Arizona result on bilingual education mirrors national trends away from programs that are seen as beneficial mainly to minorities, said Bruce Merrill, an ASU professor and the poll's director. The results spell trouble for opponents of Proposition 203, who will have a hard time winning because so few people appear to be undecided on the issue, he said. "It's one of these issues that's an emotional issue, and it's not a rational issue," Merrill said. "And so when you have 3-to-1 opposition (to bilingual programs) on this . . . it's going to be very hard" to defeat the proposition. Leonard Basurto, director of bilingual education for Tucson Unified School District, had a different opinion on the results. Voters, he said, don't understand Proposition 203 and its potential consequences. A question in the poll suggests that through an immersion program, students would learn English "as quickly as possible," he said. Whether or not that's true, you won't "find anyone who is against children learning English in the fastest way possible," he said. "They (parents) believe that they're going be voting to benefit children and that parents are going to have a choice. They won't have a choice," he said. POLL RESULTS KAET-TV poll of 400 registered voters, 16 percent from Pima County "Proposition 203 would require all instruction in public schools to be conducted in English. Rather than bilingual classes, non- English speaking students would attend an intensive one-year immersion program to teach English as quickly as possible while taking academic subjects. Will you probably support or oppose this proposition?" Support 71%
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