DeLay's bill attacking bilingual education gathering opposition

Local Hispanics and Democratic congressional members said they plan to fight a bill introduced Thursday by U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, to eliminate federal funding of bilingual education programs.

“He ought to be ashamed of himself,” said League of United Latin American Citizens spokesman Johnny Mata. “He has a lot of Hispanics in his district who need bilingual education.”

LULAC, which held its district convention last weekend in Houston, unanimously passed a resolution denouncing DeLay’s bill, he said.

“Our national convention is in June in Dallas, and we will ask DeLay to debate the bill with us there,” Mata said.

U.S. Reps. Gene Green and Sheila Jackson Lee, both Houston Democrats, also said they would oppose House Majority Whip DeLay’s effort to eliminate federal support for bilingual programs.

“We spend $ 111 million in Texas on bilingual education, and the federal portion for Texas is only ($ 9.5 million). But I would not want the federal government not to be a participant in some type of language transitional program,” said Green, whose district is heavily Hispanic,

“Not having bilingual education, or English-as-a-second-language programs, is like putting our heads in the sand. We want people to learn English, and that’s what these programs are for,” Green added.

Jackson Lee, whose district is 20 percent Hispanic, said she will work against the bill.

If the bill passes, “I think it will do great damage to Texas,” she said.

“I will be looking to ensure we get our fair share of federal funding for bilingual education,” Jackson Lee said.

DeLay’s bill, introduced late Thursday, would end federal support of bilingual education, leaving it up to the states to decide whether to fund such programs.

The bill, co-sponsored by more than a dozen congressional members including U.S. Reps. Bill Archer, R-Houston, and Ron Paul, R-Surfside, calls for the elimination of the Department of Education’s Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs.

That would end federal funding for about 750 bilingual programs nationwide.

Many of those programs were created under consent decrees that encouraged the establishment of bilingual programs in return for federal funding. DeLay’s bill would void the consent decrees, leaving the states free to decide for themselves whether they want to continue funding bilingual programs without the benefit of federal dollars.

DeLay aides said the measure, called the English for Children Act, would save the government an estimated $ 215 million a year.

Dr. Kip Tellez, a University of Houston associate education professor who evaluates bilingual education programs, said eliminating the funding would be a mistake.

“Our math education is not where we want it in the state, but no one is talking about getting rid of math,” he said. “All parents are crying out for better education. These bilingual programs are designed to help kids learn English well.”

The linchpin of all bilingual education is to teach children to read in their native language, then transfer those skills to English, Tellez said.

“There has been enough studies to show that children need literacy in their native language in order to make the transition to English, not just orally but to read and write,” he said.

To measure the full effects of bilingualism, Tellez pointed to a Galveston elementary where he evaluated a dual-language program in which English speakers learned Spanish while Spanish speakers learned English.

Noting that participants were “mostly African-Americans and Hispanics,” Tellez said, “Where there was fear and resentment before between the groups, now they even go to each other’s birthday parties because they know each other’s language and culture.”

HISD bilingual education program manager Noelia Garza said the district receives $ 5.7 million over five years in federal funds for its bilingual education programs. In comparison, the state contributes an estimated $ 14.2 million per year.

But those federal funds are aimed exactly at the dual bilingual programs that Tellez mentioned, she said.

“Five out of our eight two-way bilingual programs are through federal funds. These are discretionary funds that we have to apply for,” she said.

The federal funds are also aimed at secondary school students who are recent arrivals needing to learn English quickly in a bilingual environment to encourage them not to drop out, Garza said.

“Without these funds, we would not be able to pilot these types of programs. Once they get off the ground with seed money, then we can fund them,” she said.

NOTES: Chronicle reporter Greg McDonald in Washington contributed to this story.



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