Bilingual ed's end is delayed
PHOENIX - Students in bilingual programs in Arizona don't have to be forced out of them immediately, according to the attorney general. In a formal written opinion issued yesterday, Attorney General Janet Napolitano said school districts have until the new school year to implement the provision of Proposition 203 that scraps bilingual programs in favor of one-year English immersion courses. Napolitano said that school officials who wait until next year are not likely to be subject to the provision of the initiative that subjects them to personal liability for refusing to obey the new law. Napolitano's opinion is just fine with Ron Unz, the California businessman who wrote the Arizona initiative and funded the campaign for it - up to a point. Unz said he believes that schools should begin the English language skills testing mandated by Proposition 203 this year to create a "baseline" to see how students progress under English immersion programs. Laura Penny, chief of policy for the state Department of Education, said no decision has been made to begin that testing. After the measure was approved in November by a large margin, state school superintendent Lisa Graham Keegan asked Napolitano if school officials would wind up in legal hot water for not immediately scrapping their bilingual programs. Napolitano said such an analysis does not make sense. "A statewide switch from current teaching methods for limited English proficiency students to a new method cannot occur overnight," Napolitano wrote. Instead, she said, it requires "careful consideration" by the Department of Education and school district governing boards. "In addition, individual schools presumably need time to prepare and plan for implementing the new teaching method," Napolitano wrote. She said Keegan's agency and local boards are "in the best position to determine when that should occur. |