UTLA To Vote Anew On Support For Mandated Bilingual Education

United Teachers-Los Angeles will vote next week in a new referendum to reassert support for state-mandated bilingual teaching requirements, a controversial topic, following a vote on the issue two weeks ago.

The referendum two weeks ago was sponsored by a UTLA teacher trying to overturn the teachers union support for bilingual teaching credentials.

Proposed by UTLA’s bilingual education committee, the new referendum seeks to ”protect the integrity of the credentials” and to continue providing Los Angeles teachers with the support ”to fulfill their credentialing needs.”

”This is basically a reaffirmation of our position to assist our members in abiding by the law and in obtaining the credentials mandated by the federal and state government,” said Michael Cherry, a UTLA vice president.

The UTLA’s more than 30,000 teachers will vote on the referendum in a mail-in ballot sent out today.

Bilingual teacher credentialing has proven a contentious topic throughout the state and especially in Los Angeles, where a bilingual certified teacher can earn up to $ 5,000 more each year than even tenured teachers with more classroom experience.

According to state law, all teachers who work with students who have limited proficiency in English must receive either a certificate in bilingual and crosscultural studies or another credential in bilingual education from the state.

”When I got my teaching credential from the state of California, I thought I was getting a lifetime credential,” said Stephanie Schwartz, Granada Hills high school teacher and author of the previous referendum. ”If a teacher wants to take classes for bilingual accreditation, he or she should. But I don’t want people mandating that teachers take the extra classes.”

Schwartz said that the accreditation classes for bilingual instruction often focus on educational theory rather than practice and concentrate on primary education rather than all levels of schooling.

Schwartz’s referendum failed when put to a vote in June, with 57 percent of the teachers voting against the referendum.

UTLA leaders hope the new referendum will settle the contentious debate over the UTLA’s commitment to bilingual certification and shift the focus of discussion to other issues teachers face, including increasing class size, salaries and academic standards.

”Our enemies are legion,” wrote UTLA President Day Higuchi in the union newsletter last week, ”we cannot afford to make war with ourselves.”



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