Signature drive begins today on bilingual ed

Glodis leading campaign for English immersion

BOSTON—The campaign to eradicate the state’s bilingual education system gets under way today as workers fan out to collect signatures to place the measure on the ballot November 2002 as a popular initiative.

The bilingual initiative, strongly supported by state Sen. Guy W. Glodis, D-Worcester, is among 18 state referendum questions that have been approved by the attorney general.

Another key initiative would give communities significant new powers over developers. It is authored by Peter M. Confrey, chairman of the Mendon selectmen. The bilingual education measure would establish a one-year, English-only immersion program for foreign-speaking children.

Many educators and leaders of Hispanic and other foreign-language speaking communities oppose the change, saying it would be too harsh on many students.

The first hurdle to getting the measures on the ballot is collecting the signatures of 57,100 state residents.

Ron Unz, a California multimillionaire who masterminded and paid for successful similar efforts in his home state and Colorado, is bankrolling much of the effort here.

For the Massachusetts drive, Mr. Unz said yesterday he has retained a California firm, Progressive Campaigns, that managed the signature campaign in California that put Proposition 227 on the ballot.

Progressive Campaigns also has successfully shepherded initiatives on single-payer health care, increase in the minimum wage and medicinal use of marijuana. It recently collected 1 million signatures for a term-limits measure.

Obtaining the 100,000 signatures that Mr. Unz says will be enough to withstand challenges and ensure that the measure makes its way before voters here should be relatively easy, he said.

I’m extremely confident, given the popularity of the issue,” Mr. Unz said. We think this issue sells itself.”

In California, Progressive Solutions hired companies whose employees went to malls and restaurants to gather signatures.

In the Bay State, the company will be working in tandem with volunteer local supporters, whom Mr. Glodis is in charge of organizing.

Also helping is Citizens for Limited Taxation, the conservative group that spearheaded the tax-limiting Proposition 21/2 referendum in 1980 and helped run last year’s Question 4 tax-cut initiative.

Mr. Glodis said he will ask his active campaign supporters to participate in collecting signatures and in a subsequent public information campaign should it be approved for the election, which will be held Nov. 5, 2002.

He said he also will be visible on the issue, speaking at colleges and before community groups.

I’m predicting that we’ll not only get the signatures, but that we’ll prevail next November,” Mr. Glodis said.

An opponent of the measure, state Rep. Jarret T. Barrios, D-Cambridge, has his own ballot initiative, which would allow school districts to tailor bilingual systems to their needs and tighten teacher certification.

But Mr. Barrios — a moderate on the issue who believes the bilingual system should be reformed — said he is not sure whether to proceed to get signatures, seek a legislative solution, or devote all his energies to opposing the Unz measure.

The choices before us are many as we consider how to respond to Ron Unz’s California-style, one-size-fits all program for demolishing bilingual education in Massachusetts,” Mr. Barrios said. Ron Unz buys elections, and he has millions of dollars to pour into this.”

On the initiative involving developers, Mr. Confrey will rely only on volunteers.

Mr. Confrey’s strategy is based on networking with leaders and residents of other communities in which developers are trying to build large housing complexes.

The secretary of state’s office is making signature collection forms available today. Initiative backers have until Nov. 21 to turn in the forms. Local registrars of voters must certify the signatures’ authenticity, after which 9,500 more signatures must be gathered.



Comments are closed.