House passes three-year limit for bilingual education

PHOENIX – Extra state funding for students in bilingual education programs would be limited to three years under a plan approved by the Arizona House.

The House voted 33-26 on Wednesday for the bill (HB2387) which would cut off state funding for bilingual education for students after three years and would allow parents to keep their children out of the programs.

Schools would not get extra funding for bilingual education programs after a student’s three-year limit unless parents request it and the state superintendent of public instruction approves.

Rep. Laura Knaperek, R-Tempe, said her bill is intended to improve education because current bilingual education programs have not been successful. She also has said her bill is a middle-ground compromise between defenders of bilingual education and critics who are promoting a proposed ballot measure essentially to ban bilingual education.

Knaperek on Wednesday spoke in Spanish to support her bill: “Eso persupuesto es muy bueno,” or “This bill is very good.”

Rep. Sylvia Laughter, D-Kayenta, responded by saying in Navajo that it was a bad bill and she was voting against it.

Opponents of Knaperek’s bill defend bilingual education, saying it works if done by qualified teachers. All of the House’s Hispanic and American Indian lawmakers opposed the measure.

“This bill is nothing more than a very slow death of bilingual education,” said Rep. Carlos Avelar, D-Phoenix. “It (bilingual education) is not about being anti-English, it’s about making sure our children are competitive with other children throughout the world.”

The House previously amended the bill to add a requirement that foreign language classes be part of the core curriculum of public schools. That drew the opposition of Rep. Dan Schottel, R-Tucson, who said schools did not have the money to expand foreign language programs.

Knaperek and bilingual education backer Sen. Joe Eddie Lopez, D-Phoenix, have trying to work out a compromise bilingual education measure. Knaperek’s bill could be amended in the Senate with that compromise.



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