With my five young children already in, or headed for, Arizona’s public schools, it should come as no surprise that I have made strengthening our public schools a priority of my campaign for Congress.
After all, what issue could be more important than educating the next generation of Americans?
There is an issue that too many of our elected officials seem unwilling to address. And while it does not impact my children personally, it is critical to the future of Arizona and the many thousands of our children who are native Spanish speakers.
The issue is the absolute, abysmal failure of bilingual education programs. Here is a scandal that truly deserves our attention, which cries out for leadership from our elected officials. Yet, except for Rep. Matt Salmon, few leaders have confronted the crisis facing our native Spanish-speaking children.
The state Department of Education has determined that each year 95 percent of students in ‘limited English proficiency’ programs fail to move into mainstream classes. Bilingual education advocates even claim that students need five to seven years in bilingual programs before they can learn English. Why would our local schools continue with bilingual education when it is known to be failing? The answer, of course, is that the federal government encourages, even mandates, such nonsense.
Fortunately, wiser heads are prevailing in Arizona, where parents are demanding structured English immersion.
With English immersion, instead of being taught primarily in Spanish, students are taught in English, and receive special English-language instruction. The results are phenomenal. Consider what has happened in California since voters there banned bilingual education two years ago.
Evidence released last month showed that school districts that move fully toward English immersion were able to improve test scores the most. For example, in Oceanside schools, test scores for second-graders jumped from the 12th to the 23rd percentile – an amazing 100 percent gain.
And these students did not just do better in English; immersion improved their scores in math as well.
Because Arizona’s Hispanic and other native Spanish-speaking children deserve the same educational gains California is now achieving, today at a local charter school, I will formally endorse the English for the Children Initiative, Proposition 203.
Hundreds of children who used to flounder in Spanish-only classes in regular public schools now learn English within a one-year period at this public charter school called Phoenix Advantage.
Parents have responded to this opportunity enthusiastically – enrollment has skyrocketed from 238 when it opened in 1997 to about 1,000 today. The voters of Arizona can do a great service for children by supporting Proposition 203 this fall. And I intend to help them finish the job after I am elected to Congress.
I will introduce legislation to eliminate onerous federal Department of Education mandates that force bilingual education on school districts in Arizona and across our nation. Driven by academics and others with a financial incentive to keep students from learning English, these mandates and federal Department of Education guidelines hamstring local efforts to teach children English, the language of success in America.
Children who learn English will perform better in school and have wonderful new opportunities open to them. They may choose to go to college, become teachers, doctors, titans of high technology, or go wherever their dreams take them.
Let’s pass Proposition 203 here in Arizona, and elect officials with the courage to take on the entrenched special interests who are holding children back.
Every child in Arizona has the tools to succeed in this country; shame on those unwilling to provide these kids access to the English-language skills they need.
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