Oregon ballot initiative seeks two-year cap on ELL student native language instruction
Education Week reports that supporters of a proposed Oregon ballot initiative that limits to two years the time that English-language learners can receive instruction in their native languages or take English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classes have gathered enough signatures to put the measure up for a statewide vote. The proposed statutory amendment, which will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot, provides that public school students who aren’t proficient in English “shall be immersed in English, not sidelined for an extended period of time, but mainstreamed with English-speaking students in the shortest time possible.” Since 1998, voters in California, Arizona, and Massachusetts have approved ballot initiatives that have greatly curtailed bilingual education.
Bill Sizemore, a former candidate for governor in Oregon who registered the proposed initiative, contends “the current six-year ESL bilingual education approach sidelines bright, capable kids, who could easily be taught English and mainstreamed.” According to Margot P. Kniffin, a spokeswoman for the Center for Intercultural Organizing, more than a dozen immigrant- and refugee-rights organizations officially formed a coalition to fight it. “Right now, students have as long as they need in ESL classes before they go into all-English classes,” she said. Ms. Kniffin charges the proposal aims at “limiting the opportunity of students to succeed, in that they don’t have the time they need to learn English.”
But the proposal’s ambiguous wording—particularly its use of the term “English-immersion programs”—has caused confusion and some concern among advocates. However, the proposal leaves undefined what it means by “English immersion.” The Oregon initiative implies that English-immersion programs include instruction in students’ native languages. On the other hand, the state ballot measures in California, Arizona, and Massachusetts, used the term “structured English immersion” or “sheltered English immersion” to describe programs that use only English for instruction.
Source: Education Week, 7/15/08, By Mary Ann Zehr
[Editor’s Note: Arizona has been involved in a protracted legal dispute over funding for its ELL programs. Gov. Janet Napolitano’s push for additional funding is opposed by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and the state legislature. For background on the dispute, see below.]
NSBA School Law pages on Arizona’s ELL funding suit