As the legislative session drew to a close this spring, a bill was approved and signed into law that made bilingual educators jubilant.

After a three-year battle, the bill gave them most everything they wanted:

CSAP scores of Spanish-speaking third- and fourth-graders, which are often higher than those of their English-speaking counterparts, would be included in school evaluations.

Spanish CSAPs would get new questions every year just like the English-language test.

A commission would be created to study the best practices in acquisition of a second language, then submit a report by Dec. 31.

The commission comes at a crucial time – California multimillionaire Ron Unz and Rita Montero of Denver are pushing a 2002 ballot initiative that would dismantle bilingual education in Colorado.

Further, there’s the question of extending the CSAP to Spanish-speaking students in other grades.

Rep. Val Vigil, D-Thornton, had planned legislation extending Spanish CSAPs to other grades, but he said he’d wait to see what the commission learned before crafting the next bill.

Senate President Stan Matsunaka has appointed his four commission members: Sens. Pat Pascoe, D-Denver; Rob Hernandez, D-Denver; Ken Arnold, R-Aurora; and Bruce Cairns, R-Aurora. House Speaker Doug Dean appointed Reps. Vigil; Keith King, R-Colorado Springs; Jim Snook, R-Alamosa; and Desire Sanchez, D-Denver.

Gov. Bill Owens, however, hasn’t appointed anybody. ‘We hope to do that soon,’ spokesman Dick Wadhams said, attributing the holdup to the governor’s busy schedule – 300 boards and commissions require appointments.

Owens must appoint seven members who meet certain requirements, including: a teacher who spends a significant amount of time with students whose dominant language isn’t English, a university-based researcher who specializes in students whose first language isn’t English and a member of an association of educators who focus on students whose dominant language isn’t English.



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