Bilingual Programs Being Placed at Risk, Educators Say

Administrators in cities across the state fear that Gov. John G. Rowland’s proposal to revamp bilingual education laws would gut programs designed to teach children in their dominant language.

Since 1978, a bilingual education mandate has allowed instruction in a student’s first language.

The state currently pays about $2.2 million statewide to schools with at least 20 non-English-speaking students.

Under Rowland’s spending plan, that grant would be folded into one large education grant and the 20-student minimum requirement would be dropped.

The decision on how to teach students who are learning English would be left to local school boards — a decision Rowland says would allow greater flexibility in offering bilingual programs.

But without direct financial support and a mandate for instruction, educators worry that bilingual programs would suffer.

“You can have so much flexibility that you break,” said Yolanda Ramos, director of bilingual education for Bridgeport public schools.

Under Rowland’s proposal, schools would be required to provide “appropriate” language assistance programs, but local school officials would be left to define what that means.

The intent is to encourage schools to try different programs, such as one in which English-speaking students are paired with Spanish-speaking peers.

But Rowland,who wants to cut education aid to cities overall, is asking local systems to offer services to more children with less money.That’sa setup for failure, said New Britain School Superintendent Paul V. Sequeira.

“Who’s kidding who?” Sequeira asked. “I call it a dog-eat-dog, dog-eat-cat and dog-eat-itself world.”

Lorraine M. Aronson, deputy secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, said Rowland’s proposal includes provisions for all students instead of just those in schools that happen to have 20 non-English-speaking students.

“The current statute is a very strange entitlement,” said Aronson, who was deputy commissioner of education in the Weicker administration. “It depends on sheer happenstance.”

In the 1993-94 school year, the last year for which state figures were available, 13,709 students were in bilingual programs. Another 6,913 non-English-speaking students were unable to get into a bilingual program because there were less than 20 students in one school.

“If you want to recognize the need of children,” Aronson said, “don’t tie it to the vagaries of school enrollment.”

Urban educators worry that Rowland’s proposal would tie the fate of bilingual education to the vagaries of local politics.

“I think it will be very devastating,” said Fernando Tiago, supervisor of bilingual programs of the Meriden public schools.

He has reason to worry. Meriden’s board of education chairman and several board members have challenged the worth of their system’s program. Frank Kogut, board chairman, is critical of the length of time it takes students to transfer into regular English classes.

State records show it takes Meriden students about three years, on average, to move into regular English programs. Statewide, children stay four years, on average, before moving into a full English program.

One reason for the lengthy stay is that the program emphasizes teaching core subjects in the children’s native language to help them keep pace with their English-speaking peers.

Bilingual administrators argue that students cannot learn a second language until their first language is fully developed.

Meriden is not the only city where officials have challenged that philosophy. In New Britain, several school board members campaigned on a promise to revamp local bilingual programs. New Britain school board Chairman Jim Sanders, a Republican, also believes it’s taking too long for students to leave the program.

“I believe in a little help,” Sanders said. “But four years is too long.”

The Rowland administration shares that belief.

“Our goal is integration,” Aronson said. “It is time we had this debate in terms that relate to academic opportunity rather than language acquisition.”



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