Panel to discuss bilingual schooling

English-only bills to receive hearings

A House committee is planning hearings on various bills that would make English the government’s official language while dealing with the issue of bilingual education.

Hearings have been urged by English First, a group that is supporting separate bills introduced by Republican Reps. Toby Roth of Wisconsin and Peter T. King of New York. Each would:

* Declare English the official language of the U.S. government and require the administration to enforce the law.

* End the federal mandate requiring bilingual education.

* Eliminate the use of bilingual ballots.

* Ban citizenship ceremonies in foreign languages.

Mr. Roth’s bill goes a little further than Mr. King’s in that it also would pre-empt existing state multilingual requirements and would eliminate mandatory bilingual education by states.

English First opposes a bill introduced by Rep. Bill Emerson, Missouri Republican, that would make English the official government language but lacks the other provisions of the Roth and King measures.

The Emerson bill “doesn’t do anything,” said English First Executive Director Jim Boulet. “It takes as much work to pass a bad bill as it does a good bill, and you need one that really solves the problem.”

English First officials say they are grateful that hearings on the measures are planned. No hearing dates have yet been set.

Twenty-two states have passed laws making English their official language, 20 more than when Congress held its last hearing on the issue in 1984, the newsletter, “English First Members’ Report,” noted recently.

But the group has expressed reservations about how committed Rep. Bill Goodling, Pennsylvania Republican, is to the “pro-English” cause. Mr. Goodling is chairman of the House Economic and Educational Opportunities Committee, which will hold the hearings.

In its newsletter, English First said Mr. Goodling “has not been as strong on this issue as we need him to be” and noted that “many of the worst excesses of the anti-English lobby passed through” his committee when it was run by Democrats and he was the ranking Republican.

Goodling spokeswoman Cherie Jacobus said Friday the congressman is “interested in the items the English First people are talking about” and agrees “children do need to learn the English language.”

“Because the children do come first, he believes the folks who are closest to the children – the local-level folks – are best at devising the plans and strategies for handling the transition from their native language to English,” the spokeswoman said.

“He feels that having the federal government dictate one philosophy or one solution is probably not the best way,” Ms. Jacobus added.

Mr. Boulet said it sounds as if Mr. Goodling is “closer than he was” to what English First seeks. While recognizing that Republicans favor minimal federal intervention, Mr. Boulet said his group believes the federal government “should say you should teach English” to those who do not speak it.

“English is the key to opening the door to economic opportunity,” he said. “Bilingual education slows down and confuses people. . . . Most of our opponents don’t even bother to defend the program – including Mr. Clinton.”

So it will not be enough “to simply say to states, you can do whatever you want,” Mr. Boulet said. “Government grants have set up an empire based on bilingual education. . . . It’s an $8 billion-a-year industry. . . . There may be a need for the federal government to act affirmatively to undo the damage.”

He said he was encouraged to see that the final rescission budget that emerged from Congress contained a $38.5 million cut in bilingual eduation.

He said he also was buoyed by House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s attack on “bilingualism” in his new book and the Georgia Republican’s vocal support for English as the “American language.”

“We’d like to see bilingual education made voluntary on states,” Mr. Boulet said. As things now stand, it’s the “king of unfunded mandates,” he said.



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