Local control under Prop. 227 a key issue

Some bilingual education foes dislike initiative

In endorsing Proposition 227, the June ballot measure to all but end bilingual education in California public schools, Gov. Pete Wilson said the argument that it will undermine local control “misses the point.”

The governor also said Proposition 227 “was not inspired by any one person,” but by “whole communities of people,” including the 7,000 limited-English-proficient students of the Orange Unified School District in Orange County.

But talk to the superintendent of Orange Unified, and he’ll tell you that local control is exactly the point.

“I’m a real proponent for English-only, but I’m an Unz opponent,” said Robert French, superintendent of Orange Unified, referring to Proposition 227 author Ron Unz.

“What I see is a law being thrust upon schools that didn’t originate out of the needs of kids at local school districts,” French said in a recent interview. “It’s bound for failure.”

Orange County is ground zero for the anti-bilingual education movement — French’s district and three others in Orange County all have won waivers from the state Board of Education to do away with traditional bilingual education programs. (In his statement, Wilson noted that the state Department of Education opposed Orange Unified’s waiver request.)

Administrators in the districts have implemented their own form of instruction to teach limited English-speaking students.

But far from being ardent backers of Proposition 227, some of these bilingual education opponents say they are concerned about how the Unz measure might affect the programs they fought so hard to put in place.

Tracy Painter, who as director of special projects for the Westminster School District oversees that district’s program for English learners, said the core issue is the main provision in Proposition 227.

That provision mandates a statewide system of “sheltered English immersion” for students with limited English skills and is “not normally intended to exceed one year.”

In Article 1 of his initiative, Unz, a Silicon Valley software entrepreneur, wrote that “young immigrant children can easily acquire full fluency in a new language, such as English, if they are heavily exposed to that language in the classroom at an early age.”

And Wilson, who said bilingual education has kept students dependent on their primary language “for far too long,” said studies have shown that English immersion “is the quickest and easiest way for children to learn a second language.”

But Painter said research shows that “children may be conversationally proficient at the end of one year, but they are not academically proficient in English at the end of one year.”

“Our concern is that if the Unz initiative limits our local decisions about how long children need primary language assistance, once again it’s an issue of someone else layering control and dictating our program when we have developed a program that we have proven is successful,” Painter added.

She said the program in the Westminster district “is not English immersion and not English-only.”

Teachers are teamed with instructional aides and they go through eight days of training on how to develop academic instruction that is delivered in English, but that also includes primary language assistance, Painter said.

Gloria Matta Tuchman, co-author of Proposition 227 and a candidate for state schools chief, said the initiative is about “parental empowerment. . . . English will be the language of instruction, unless parents choose otherwise.”

And Rosemarie Avila, a member of the Santa Ana Unified School District board, said she supports Proposition 227 because it would be “local control at its best.”

“When you have an oppressive Department of Education, like we’ve had, forcing compliance without (a bilingual education law in place), . . . you bring back the control of the people and let them have their will,” Avila said Tuesday.

About an hour later outside the Capitol, at an immigrants-rights rally against the Unz initiative and Proposition 226, the labor union dues ballot measure, Mary Anne Foo of Garden Grove agreed with Avila that bilingual education needs fixing, but disagreed that Proposition 227 is the answer.

“You’re setting them (students) up for failure. You’re giving them 180 days of English instruction and then that’s it,” Foo said.

French, the Orange Unified schools chief, said he, too, is not sure one year of English immersion “is going to solve the needs for all students.” And he fears that failure for some under the Unz measure might lead to lower achievement for all.

“It could have the effect of lowering the achievement level of the mainstream classes,” French said. “. . . The teachers say the (limited English-speaking) kids can’t keep up, so they’re going to have to lower the standards for everybody — that’s what my fear is.”



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