LAUSD administrators warned Thursday that the quality of instruction for its more than 300,000 limited-English-speaking students would be devastated if voters adopt a June ballot measure essentially ending bilingual education.

While issuing the dire warnings, the same administrators attempted to explain to school board members how the district is preparing for the possible passage of Proposition 227.

Of the about $146 million that the district receives for bilingual programs per year, it could lose $79 million in state and federal grants, administrators said. But they did not know how much of a $50 million statewide pool would be available and what the new classes would cost.

They also were unsure what kind of training teachers would need and what new instructional materials would be required.

Although polls have showed continual strong voter support for the proposition, the district only recently prepared an 18-page draft contingency plan, which administrators discussed Thursday with the school board committee.

Board of Education member David Tokofsky said he believed the district staff was starting to think through the implementation issues, and he didn’t expect a detailed plan Thursday.

“They’ll wait for what the lawyers and what Sacramento says before they really figure it out,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the campaign supporting Proposition 227 said the district should demand to meet with state officials to create a concrete contingency plan.

“They need to set up a working plan, not a vague outline,” said Sheri Annis, spokeswoman for English for the Children. “It sounds as though the LAUSD hasn’t taken this issue seriously until now.

“Tokofsky said that what the district is not looking at — but must — is why it takes on average of four to seven years to transfer its bilingual children into English-language classes.

In 1998, only eight of every 100 bilingual students made the switch to English classes, a slight drop from 1997. Of the district’s 680,000 students, 312,471 are considered non-English speakers.

The so-called Unz initiative would dismantle the current bilingual program and require students to be taught in an intensive English immersion class for a year before they are transferred to a traditional class.

LAUSD officials said that under Proposition 227, children would fall behind in other subjects during that year of intensive English. Also, they believe it would keep students from critical thinking and jeopardize early literacy for young students.

Instead of building on years of language learned at home, the Unz initiative would give a student only 180 days of instruction — and then expect those students to compete with other English speakers, said Toni Marsnik, coordinator of the language acquisition development unit.

But Annis, from English for the Children, called the LAUSD’s analysis of the initiative invalid.

“It is the current program that is holding children back from the ability to compete intellectually with other children throughout California,” Annis said. “Immersion is the only way to ensure students can later take rigorous courses and eventually enter higher education.

“Annis charged that the LAUSD does not understand the immersion concept, and she asserted that children would continue to take the appropriate classes while learning English.”It continues instruction in core subjects but gives extra assistance in acquiring the English language,” Annis said. “It must be the intent of the LAUSD to keep the children behind.”



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