Petition drive aims to reform bilingual classes

PASADENA – If the response to Wednesday’s local petition-signing effort is any indication, organizers of a campaign that would effectively end bilingual education in California won’t have any problems qualifying the measure for the June ballot.

During the hour he stationed himself at a department store entrance, Charles Chamberlain of the English for the Children group gathered about 50 signatures for the initiative. No registered voter he approached turned him down.

“This is one of the more popular issues,” said Chamberlain, who has worked on campaigns to raise the minimum wage and establish term limits for state lawmakers, among others.

“It’s rare in an initiative when people say, ‘How can I volunteer to help?’ There’s a definite sense of excitement about this.”

The initiative requires all public school instruction be in English unless parents can prove their children would learn faster through an alternative method of instruction, possibly bilingual. Schools that receive 20 applications for enrollment in a bilingual class would be required to offer bilingual instruction or allow the students to transfer.

The measure provides for one year of immersion in English before students are “mainstreamed” into English classes. State law now mandates the reverse, extending the immersion option only to parents who request it. Otherwise, non-English-speaking students are automatically placed in bilingual classes.

The state Department of Education classifies 1.2 million Califomia students, or 23 percent of the state total, as not proficient in English.

The initiative would also allocate $50 million a year for 10 years to programs that would teach English to adults interested in tutoring students with limited English proficiency.

Jean Villacorta of Pasadena said such reform is long overdue. Villacorta, who has served as a substitute teacher in the past, said she signed the petition because she has seen too many Spanish-speaking stu4ents fall by the wayside academically under the current system.

“They act out and do poorly because they have no idea what is being expected of them,” she said. “They’re frustrated.”

Alhambra resident David Baray said he favored the initiative because having a good command of English would “help level the field” when the students enter the work force.

“English is the economic language of California,” he said.

Richard Maurer of Sierra Madre said he was simply tired of “wasting money on a teaching method that hasn’t panned out.”

Elizabeth Hill, the state legislative analyst, estimates the initiative would require no additional state spending and could potentially save money in districts that administer programs for students with limited English proficiency.

The initiative is being sponsored by former Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Unz and Santa Ana-based teacher Gloria Matta Tuchman, a Latina. They say bilingual education has helped fuel illiteracy and a high drop-out rate among Latino students.



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