I understand that all children are entitled to a free, appropriate, public education, because, just like anchor babies, even though parents may be here illegally, they are for some reason considered under a state's jurisdiction, but with so much money being spent on teaching these kids English, I don't understand we can't just teach kids who are here legally ESL in schools. Why aren't the kids here illegally, mostly from Mexico and Spanish-speaking, just being taught the basics, in Spanish. It would be cheaper to have a Spanish speaking teacher teach them the basics in Spanish, then to waste years trying to teach them English, and then teach them the basics in addition to English. If they graduate from high school unable to speak English, but knowing the basics, in Spanish, that should be considered their parent's choice (to not learn English themselves, and teach it to their kids).
The public school my child was to go to (in Tucson, kids can go to the public school they are assigned to, try to get into another public school which uses a lottery to decide which out of area children can attend, or try to get into a charter school, which is not part of TUSD) was failing (25% of the children are in ESL), and also doesn't teach any foreign languages (only English to children who don't speak English, so I guess that's a foreign language to them, so they basically get a better education then my kid would) so I tried to get her into an excelling public school, which was closer to my house than the school she was assigned to, but she didn't "win" the lottery, so I put her in a charter school where she will be taught Spanish and Chinese (I think knowing a foreign language is necessary today).
I'm just curious why ESL is considered part of an appropriate education, instead of appropriate meaning the basics in whatever language they already understand.
One school, a magnet public school, Catalina Magnet High School, needs to have extra special programs to entice minority children, due to segregation problems. They actually pay $115,000/year to teach 10 students to fly airplanes and get their pilot's license, at taxpayer expense. That article was in the AZ Daily Star today. Of course, illegals would be allowed to get into this also (appropriate?). They can also take classes in health care, business, etc, knowing they can't work legally. How does this benefit them, or the taxpayers?
Why are illegals allowed to get a free public education, why are they allowed to go to charter schools which, while free, are not part of TUSD (I'm using Tucson Unified School District, but I'm sure it's the same in every state).
Meanwhile, we are hearing about huge budget cuts to K-12 in AZ. How much does it cost for all the "La Raza" programs in public schools? Are those "appropriate" or necessary, or do they benefit all children and not just those who are part of "THE race"?
Any ideas?