Los Angeles Times

Saturday, March 14, 1998

No Change, Gracias

Schools Plan to Keep Bilingual Programs, Despite State Offer

By FRED ALVAREZ, Times Staff Writer

Despite a move to make it easier for school districts to

scrap bilingual education programs, Ventura County

educators said Friday they are unlikely to accept that

offer, arguing that native-language instruction is still the

best way to teach students who struggle with English.

The decision, handed down Thursday by the State

Board of Education, even drew the wrath of bilingual

education opponents, who viewed it as a political ploy

aimed at stalling efforts to do away with such programs

altogether.

"They are just playing a political game," said Simi

Valley resident Steve Frank, a government affairs

consultant who is spearheading the Ventura County

campaign in support of a statewide initiative aimed at

dismantling all bilingual education programs.

"On one hand, they now understand that bilingual

education is a failure, that it is a fad like the Hula-Hoop

or the Slinky that now belongs at the back of the closet

somewhere," Frank said. "However, what the state board

should have done is mandate that no longer will

classrooms be segregated by language."

The state board voted unanimously to allow local

school districts to shed bilingual education programs

without having to petition Sacramento.

The vote launches a deregulation process that

eventually could free local educators to teach non-English

speakers as they see fit, as long as some help is available.

But across Ventura County, educators said they don't

expect to make any changes in the programs already in

place for the county's 25,000 limited-English speaking

students.

"We have proven that our programs work," said

Yolanda Benitez, superintendent of the Rio School

District, north of Oxnard, where about a third of the

3,000 students don't speak English well or at all.

"We are seeing academic achievements growing in

these youngsters; we're not going to make any changes,"

she said. "Unfortunately, when we talk about bilingual

education, we have lost sight of the children. Regardless

of whether the children are purple or pink, whether they

speak Spanish or Vietnamese, they need programs that

are going to help them do well in school."

Added Joseph Spirito, superintendent of the

17,000-student Ventura Unified School District: "We're

still going to be doing what we've been doing. It's

successful, and we feel the program is showing good

results here in Ventura. I'm just worried that some

districts will choose to drop it completely, and that will be

a sad day for kids."

The move is the latest salvo in a long-running battle to

overhaul bilingual education.

There has been a rising tide of support for scrapping

the program altogether, as more and more people believe

that 25 years of bilingual education have failed

California's school children and placed them at a

competitive disadvantage.

The most drastic proposal comes in the form of the

"English for the Children" initiative. That measure, which

will be on the June ballot, is sponsored by Silicon Valley

software entrepreneur Ron K. Unz and would require

virtually all classroom instruction to be in English.

According to that initiative, children who are not fluent

would get about a year of special help in English before

being funneled into mainstream classes. Currently, they

can stay in bilingual classes for up to six years, being

taught primarily in their native language.

The initiative would hold teachers and school officials

personally liable for violating its provisions.

Frank argues that Thursday's vote by the state Board

of Education seeks to stall momentum building for the

initiative by putting the fate of bilingual education

programs in the hands of local school districts. But he

predicts that move will backfire.

"It will only add to the momentum," he said. "The

public will only see that the state board is now against

bilingual education, that it's wrong and that it doesn't

work."

Countywide, about half of the

limited-English-speaking pupils--94% of whom speak

Spanish--get their first few years of instruction in their

home language.

Three in 10 are immersed in English-only classes,

with special booster classes to accelerate their language

development. About 14% receive no special attention.

Ventura County educators and activists have launched

a campaign to oppose the measure, saying the effort is

fueled by misinformation and is harmful to non-English

speaking youngsters.

But in the short term, local educators said they don't

expect this week's decision to have any effect on the way

limited-English speakers receive instruction.

"We're always looking for ways to improve the

program; we don't stop that," said Bernard Korenstein,

superintendent of the Oxnard Elementary School District

where about 6,000 students receive some bilingual

education services.

"But there are a lot of children who need these

programs," he said. "They're not designed to continue a

child in his or her primary language. They're designed to

teach a child to be successful in the English language by

using his or her primary language to achieve that goal."

Added Nancy Carroll, superintendent of the

2,400-student Ocean View School District south of

Oxnard: "We have a great track record of success. And

without these programs, a great number of these children

would miss vital academic content, which would only

serve to put them further behind."