ARIZONA EDUCATORS FACE THE END OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION IN THE STATE

Last month the state of Arizona voted to end bilingual education programs in the state.  Teachers and school administrators were already wondering how they were going to deal with the changes when they read a letter in the Arizona Daily Star that made their situation even worse.  The author of the letter was Ron K. Unz, the Silicon Valley millionaire who led the fight to end bilingual education in California two years ago before turning to Arizona.

In his letter, written because he was concerned that some teachers might ignore the new law, Mr. Unz wrote, “If a public school employee willfully violates this law, he or she can be sued, held personally liable by the parent of any schoolchild in Arizona and may be driven into personal bankruptcy.”  Aside from the general threatening tenor of the note, it actually misreads the law.  While the law does create personal liability for school district administrators and board members who fail to enforce it, there is no liability for other school employees, including teachers.

Teachers in Arizona are working to figure out the implications of the law.  It is estimated that it will affect 100,000 students, about an eighth of the students in the state.  It calls for students with limited English proficiency to be placed in one-year English intensive courses.  The law does include a provision that allows parents to seek a waiver to allow their children to continue in a bilingual education program, and teachers in the state are working on ways to inform parents of the availability of these waivers.

While most of those affected by the new law are Spanish speakers, there are a number of Native American children who will be affected by it.  While Unz argues that he opposes bilingual education because he believes that all children, regardless of their native country, should learn English at an early age, others attribute different goals to him.  A Phoenix area assistant principal believes that by forcing children into English only programs, many of them will not only not learn English, but also will drop out of school and not have an opportunity to pursue higher education.

Unz is spearheading efforts to end bilingual education in New York City, Colorado, and Massachusetts.