English bill goes through Senate
Legislation requires language for diploma

Thursday, March 22nd 2007
By Joe Hanel | Journal Denver Bureau

DENVER - High school students couldn't get a diploma without knowing English under a bill the Senate approved Tuesday.

Opponents said it could cost schools an extra $4.5 million — money the state doesn’t have.

Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, sponsored the bill based on his experience as a founder of the New America School, a charter school for immigrants. His job as the soccer coach alerted him to the problem.

“It was the African immigrant kids who came to me and said, ‘Coach, we can’t understand what the Spanish-speaking kids are saying,’” Romer said.

He instituted an English-only rule on the field, and the team improved, he said.

The Legislature’s budget analysts estimated 900 students would fail the English requirement and have to retake a grade, at a cost of $4.5 million. Romer’s bill does not provide a way to pay the cost.

“I just wish that Sen. Romer had carried a bill that had funding for the laudable goal he had for Senate Bill 73,” said Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada. “But this, too, is just another unfunded mandate for schools.”

The bill requires all school districts to set standards for English “competency” for their graduates. It leaves it up to the school boards to decide what counts as competent, but districts could not use the Colorado Student Assessment Program tests for their English test.

Districts would have until 2012 to comply.

Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, worried that each of Colorado’s 178 districts would have a different standard for English.

“If you allow each district to set their own rules … sometimes you see that the standards are very low,” Tupa said.

Senators voted 33-1 in favor of the bill Wednesday morning. Windels was the only “no” vote. The bill now heads to the House.

Reach Joe Hanel at joeh@cortezjournal.com.

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