English for the Children of Arizona Leaders Endorse Tom Horne, Oppose Jaime Molera in Race for State Superintendent of Schools

Phoenix, AZ—Top leaders of English for the Children of Arizona, which sponsored Proposition 203 in November 2000, today announced their endorsement of Tom Horne for State Superintendent of Schools and their opposition to Jaime Molera, the unelected incumbent.

?Two years ago, the voters of Arizona overwhelmingly passed Proposition 203, requiring that Hispanic students be taught in English,? explained Maria Mendoza, chair of the initiative campaign. ?Yet today, there are still thousands of Hispanic children in Arizona being forced into Spanish-only classes. Jaime Molera, Arizona?s top educational official, has done absolutely nothing to make schools comply with our new law. That?s why we?re supporting Tom Horne, who will make full enforcement of Proposition 203 a top priority in his administration. Bilingual education is racial segregation against Hispanic students, and I?ve been fighting it for thirty years. Maybe Mr. Molera thinks Hispanic parents want their children to remain segregated in Spanish-only classes, but I think he?ll find out how wrong he is on election day. A vote for Horne is a vote for English.?

Although Arizona voters passed Proposition 203, dismantling bilingual education, by nearly a 2-to-1 margin in November 2000, news reports have indicated that thousands of Hispanic students still remain in bilingual education classes throughout Arizona. Most of these students have been placed in Spanish-language classes after their school districts declare them to have a good knowledge of English. Proposition 203 leaders have repeatedly declared this waiver procedure an illegal fraud and have bitterly denounced it for most of the last year. Tom Horne, a Harvard-educated attorney and long-time School Board official, has made full enforcement of Proposition 203 one of the centerpieces of his campaign against Mr. Molera in the Republican Primary.

Proposition 203 Co-Chair Margaret Garcia Dugan suggested that Jaime Molera?s lack of action on enforcing Proposition 203 would be a huge political mistake. ?By doing nothing over the last year and never returning any of our letters or calls regarding violations of Prop. 203, Mr. Molera?s already lost my vote, and unless he immediately gets moving on this issue, I think he?ll lose the votes of all the hundreds of thousands of other Arizonans who supported our initiative.?

Jaime Molera, a former education staff assistant and lobbyist, was appointed Arizona Superintendent of Schools in mid-2001 after the sudden resignation of his predecessor and former boss, Lisa Graham Keegan.


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