Senate Kills Boost in Bilingual Ed

Funds Move Comes Week After U.S. Criticism

Barely a week after a federal judge blasted Arizona’s bilingual education system as inadequate, the Senate Education Committee killed the only bill filed this session that would help.

The broad proposal to triple funding for English as a Second Language programs statewide to $40 million failed on a party line vote Thursday. The Republican majority had concerns about the program’s cost and the manner in which the program would allocate money.

“This essentially amounts to a reward for failure,” said Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, who helped kill the bill. “You give districts money if their students are low-achieving and schools that do well get nothing. With that formula, there’s no way I could support it.”

Supporters of bilingual education have argued that children who haven’t mastered English are not underachieving, but simply need more attention and help to catch up. The failed proposal would have added more money for instruction, materials and training for teachers.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Joe Eddie Lopez, said he will try to revive the proposal before the full House by adding it as an amendment to another bill.

One of the attorneys for Nogales parents who successfully sued the state to get more funding for non-English-speaking students called Thursday’s news “pathetically predictable.”

“They are violating the law,” Tim Hogan said of the Legislature. “It looks like we will have to ask the court to enforce the order. We’re obviously not going to wait until the Legislature convenes next year to get relief.”

Hogan said he’s frustrated because lawmakers had an opportunity to craft their own solution to the issue. Instead, it looks like the court will have to “tell them exactly what to do.”

Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Graham Keegan said, “It’s really a shame” that Huppenthal would end debate on the bill. The problem is not going away, she added, and her office has no plans to appeal the ruling.

Jesus Escarcega, a Phoenix school district administrator and president of the Arizona Association for Bilingual Education, said if districts don’t get help, then no one should “complain about kids being in the program too long.”

Districts are already forced to “steal, beg and borrow” to make ends meet for students learning English, Escarcega said.

The concept of special classes for non-English students has long drawn fire from many quarters.

“Why should we be spending taxpayers’ money on stupid bilingual programs?” said Maria Escalante of Tucson, who supports limiting students to one year of classes to learn English.

Josue Gonzalez, director of the Arizona State University Center for Bilingual Education and Research, said, “The reality is it takes money to educate kids that are atypical in any way.”



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