Voters statewide regardless of ethnicity or political affiliation overwhelmingly favor a measure proposed for next June’s ballot that would dismantle bilingual education, according to a poll released Monday.

Sixty-nine percent of registered voters surveyed last month by The Field Institute said they would vote yes for the English for the Children initiative.

A higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats favored the proposed measure. Support was strongest among whites and blacks, followed by Latinos and Asians.

The initiative would require all public school children to be taught in English. Students who are not fluent in English would be placed in “sheltered English immersion” classes for no more than one year. Parents could enroll their children in bilingual education classes only if they could prove their youngsters have special needs. The initiative also would set aside $50 million a year for 10 years to teach English to adults interested in English tutoring.

The proposal has not yet qualified for the June ballot. But supporters last month turned in nearly nearly twice as many signatures as needed to qualify the measure. Official word on whether it qualified is expected by next month.

Most limited-English speaking students now receive some instruction in their native language so they do not fall behind in other subjects while they learn English.

Results of the survey came as little surprise to the measure’s chief sponsor — software millionaire Ron Unz.

“It seems to me that most of the people in California from all different ethnic backgrounds feel very strongly that children should be taught in English when they go to school,” Unz said Monday. ” … and that is not happening today. It’s a Spanish-only program. It’s not bilingual education.”

But opponents of the initiative said Monday the poll’s findings are proof that across-the-board support for English-only instruction is dwindling. A Los Angeles Times poll in October found that 80 percent of the state’s voters were in favor of the proposed measure. That poll also put Latino support for the initiative at 84 percent.

“It shows that as we get our message out, more people doubt that the Unz initiative is the answer,” said Kelly Hayes-Raitt, spokeswoman for Citizens for an Educated America: No on Unz, a political action committee that has formed to fight the measure. “I think the poll shows that the measure is just too extreme for Californians to accept.”

Field poll director Mark DiCamillo said support for initiatives typically is high when they are first introduced because voters are usually only aware of the broad concept of what they propose to do. As “no” campaigns get under way, support erodes, DiCamillo said.

“Voters haven’t really lived and breathed this initiative yet,” he said.

Unz attributed the drop in support for his initiative in the Field poll compared with the Los Angeles Times poll to how information was presented in the survey.

Unz said the Field poll included the initiative’s plan to spend $50 million for tutoring programs without mentioning “the hundreds of millions” of dollars that would be saved from downsizing bilingual education.

“It sounds like we’re spending more money,” he said.

In addition to revealing strong support for the initiative, the poll also suggests that voters are split on whether how long it takes to learn English and most believe decisions regarding bilingual education should be made at the local or the state level.

The telephone survey of 696 registered voters was conducted in English or Spanish between Nov. 12 and Nov. 23. It had a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points.



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