Bilingual Education

Follow through on specific reforms now

Editorial
Dallas Morning News
Monday, September 21, 1998.

Students in the Dallas Independent School District who are not fluent in English deserve to be taught the language quickly and effectively. But since as many as 58,000 students from differing educational and linguistic backgrounds need to be served, the reforms will have to be carefully targeted. Educators and legislators should use a scalpel rather than a sword.

Whatever Congress and the state Legislature decide to do, the Dallas Independent School District must continue to initiate its own reforms. Here are some worthwhile approaches:

• Follow through on the promise to channel the bulk of the Dallas public schools' bilingual education teachers to grades kindergarten through third, or even pre-kindergarten through second. Either way, students should make the transition to English in three years or less. School officials deserve credit for recognizing this need already. Because students learn languages most easily at a young age, capitalizing upon their awesome capacity to learn makes sense.

• Though rechanneling teachers to the earlier grades is necessary, don't go overboard: The special needs of older immigrant students whose education has so far been undertaken in a foreign language should be met also. English-as-a-second-language teachers may be helpful for this group.

• Federal and state funds earmarked for bilingual education and English as a second language should go to those programs, and not be diverted to others. In the past, the district has been criticized by federal district court auditors in this regard. But unless needed resources are provided, how can the programs now in place be evaluated honestly and accurately?

• Aggressively pursue federal grants relating to bilingual education and immigrant assistance. Until recently, the district has had an abysmal record of soliciting such aid. Multilingual education chief Evangelina Cortez deserves the full support and cooperation of the district as she continues to apply for federal grants.

• Continue the pursuit of bilingual education teachers from various professional backgrounds through the district's CREATE program. If, in addition to local citizen talent, lawful immigrant professionals can pass the required examination, they too should be used in helping alleviate the bilingual education teacher shortage. Eighteen of them recently passed all portions of the required examinations.

Congress and the state Legislature also have roles to play. But lawmakers should be careful to resist calls for drastic measures, either in opposition to bilingual education or in support of it. They should also take seriously their responsibility to monitor progress.

• Congress should make funds available for awarding bonuses to local school districts that succeed in teaching English fluency in a shorter period of time than before. Such funds could in turn be used as additional compensation for star teachers.

• Require that school districts allow parents to choose the language program for their children. The Dallas schools already require parental consent, but recently approved federal legislation sponsored by Rep. Frank Riggs, R-Calif., should reduce undue pressure on the part of over-eager advocates.

• State legislators should lean on the State Board of Education and the Texas commissioner of education to help school districts conform with state law, or to pressure them when they delay too long. If the law is on the books, compliance must be the goal.

The needs of limited-English-proficient students may soon become the single biggest issue in the Dallas Independent School District. In a school district of nearly 160,000 students, meeting the special language needs of a group comprised of almost 60,000 individuals is an enormous challenge especially when that number is projected to grow at an even larger rate in the foreseeable future.

Given such trends, the Legislature is right to permit the granting of waivers for school districts that are not in compliance with the law governing bilingual education programs. But lawmakers are also right to limit waivers to a maximum of three years. Because the Dallas public schools are now in their eighth year of waivers, the challenge is to deliver rather than to delay.

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