Prop. 203: Is Bilingual Ed Dead?

Districts scramble to be in compliance

As East Valley school districts scramble to fall into compliance with Proposition 203 – the anti-bilingual education measure overwhelmingly approved by voters in November – the jury is still out on whether it will mean the end to bilingual education in Arizona.

Most school districts will spend the summer training teachers in English immersion techniques to meet the fall 2001 deadline for English-only classes. But school officials’ opinions differ on what Prop. 203 will mean to the state’s 146,000 students with limited English.

Much of the confusion stems from the proposition’s language, which many lawyers are still struggling to understand, said Debra Gomez, assistant superintendent for Tempe Elementary, where 3,000 of its 13,000 students are English learners.

What’s more, the Department of Education has yet to provide direction to school districts based on its interpretation of the law, she said.

“Some things about Prop. 203 are quite clear,” Gomez said. “Others, like the third waiver criteria for students with ‘special and individual physical needs,’ are less clear. Nobody knows what that means. So we’re all flying by the seats of our pants and will just try to do our best to implement the law.”

Some parents, such as Maria Torres, are already lamenting the end of bilingual education.

Torres’ daughters, Veronica, 11, and Sarah, 7, are enrolled in Frye Elementary’s dual language program, which serves nearly 200 students in Chandler. Both girls are fluent in English and Spanish.

“I’m very concerned for all of those kids who don’t speak English,” Torres said. “I’m really afraid they’re going to flounder early on and fail. This proposition really does these kids a great disservice.”

Patterned after Proposition 227, which California voters endorsed in 1998, Prop. 203 requires that all public school instruction be in English. The law repealed the state’s bilingual education statutes and forces English learners into an intensive one-year English immersion program. Students are then mainstreamed into regular classes. Foreign language programs and private schools are exempt.

But Arizona’s proposition allows for personal liability lawsuits against administrators and school boards.

The law does permit waivers for children who already know English, students who are older than 10 or those with special individual needs. But the waiver process is cumbersome at best, said Susan Eisinger, assistant superintendent for curriculum at Chandler Unified, where nearly 3,740 of the district’s 22,000 students are English learners.

The first waiver option seems odd because bilingual education programs are geared toward teaching students English, Eisinger and Gomez said.

Waiver two makes more sense because it addresses the needs of older students faced with mastering English in one year, several East Valley officials said.

Irene Frklich, Mesa Unified’s ESL program director, agreed with Gomez’s assessment that the third waiver is unclear. Nearly 4,900 of Mesa’s 70,000 students are in its ESL program.

Some East Valley school districts, such as Mesa and Queen Creek Unified, will be affected less because they already employ ESL programs that teach students in English. About 280 of Queen Creek’s 1,700 students are in its ESL program.

Other districts, including Chandler Unified and Tempe Elementary, offer ESL, bilingual or dual language instruction.

It’s uncertain whether Chandler Unified’s dual language program at Frye will survive.

“Prop. 203 says all instruction should be conducted in English,” Eisinger said. “So this will make it difficult for

bilingual or dual language programs to remain open.”

Parent Marcia Turner lobbied to save a popular dual language program serving 122 students at Holdeman Elementary. Her daughter, Tori, 6, speaks Spanish fluently thanks to the program, she said.

“It’s such a benefit to be bilingual in a state like Arizona,” Turner said. “I want that for my daughter.”

Holdeman parents will be submitting waiver applications to preserve the program, Gomez said.

Gilbert Unified, a 30,000-student district with 500 English learners, has a dual language program with 61 students at Gilbert High School. There’s no move to close it down, said Principal and ESL Services Director Charles Santa Cruz.

“We’re not sure if waivers will be required at this point,” Santa Cruz said. “But we’ll do whatever the law dictates to ensure it remains open.”

Ironically, some schools without bilingual classes could be forced to offer them because the law states that schools with 20 waivers in a grade level must offer them.

“You can’t help but be concerned because we’re doing away with our bilingual education programs, but 203 doesn’t really kill bilingual education,” Gomez said. “How can you offer something you don’t have?”

“It’s just not as simple as people think.”



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