A lot of hard feelings still exist over recent voter approval to drastically change the way students who speak a foreign language are taught English in Arizona’s public schools.

The current open-ended system of bilingual education next year will be shelved in favor of a one-year English immersion program.

But many aspects of the new law could use legal clarification, such as waiver provisions to allow students still struggling after one year to get the help they need to master English.

It’s fortunate that school districts have a window of time to properly interpret the law and draw up plans to carry it out.

If properly carried out, it just might be possible to say a year from now that the changes weren’t so bad after all.



Comments are closed.