Opponents of bilingual education try for ballot initiative
DENVER---Jorge Garcia knows what it is like to be forced to learn English. Growing up in Texas, he saw an 80 percent high school dropout rate among his 10 brothers and sisters, frustrated by their lack of progress. Garcia, bilingual education coordinator for the Boulder Valley School District, is against a proposed, anti-bilingual education initiative being promoted by a Hispanic group from Denver. It would require children who do not speak English to be placed in a one-year English immersion program unless their parents request bilingual education. "This is America. We should teach our kids in school to speak English. However, there is no one-size-fits-all. We disagree with their methods, not their goals," Garcia said. Supporters say children cannot learn English unless they are exposed to it every day. They say teachers reinforce native language skills at the expense of English the students need to graduate and get into college. The state Ballot Title Setting Board will determine at a hearing next week if the proposal meets state requirements. Supporters will need about 80,000 signatures of registered voters to put the initiative on the 2002 ballot. Rita Montero, a spokeswoman for English for the Children of Colorado sponsoring the initiative, said Hispanics are the only group forced to learn in their native language. She said Russian Jews, Vietnamese and other children get instruction in English and do well in schools. Montero said Hispanic teachers are worried their schools will fail under the state's system for testing students and grading schools. She said that forces educators to teach to the Spanish test out of fear those students cannot learn fast enough in English to pass the regular test. "This is a classist and racist view. They don't say that about any other language minority," Montero said. The Spanish-language version of the Colorado Student Assessment Program tests - the only version other than the English tests - were administered to about 1,500 students, or about 2 percent of the approximately 56,000 students who took the tests last year. The scores do not currently count toward school ratings and Gov. Bill Owens has formed a task force to determine how the scores should be used. Lupe Martinez said Friday her two children in a Denver elementary school have suffered because they are forced to do their work in Spanish. She said they were born in the United States and need to learn English. "I'm very concerned for my kids," she said. Gully Stanford, spokesman for English Plus opposing the initiative, said some children may have been mistakenly kept in Spanish classes. He said it would be a mistake to pass the initiative and take away choices for other children. Hispanic activist Paul Sandoval said the battle has divided the Hispanic community, pitting parents who want their children taught English as quickly as possible against other parents who want children to have a choice of programs. "This has nothing to do with children," Sandoval said. The state allows each district to choose which programs to offer, except in Denver, which is under a 1999 federal court order limiting students' participation in bilingual education to three years. Montero said Denver school administrators are violating the order, forcing children who speak English into the program if their parents speak Spanish, and keeping them there to meet the minimum requirement of 75 students per school to keep the program running. Denver school officials said they are following the court's plan. |