I am passing this along to all of you in Texas..


The Speaker of the House, Tom Craddick, initiated legislation for language immersion in a language OTHER THAN ENGLISH. On its face, the goal sounds nobel: To provide Texas children with the ability to speak 2 languages in order to succeed in a global economy. The Chairman of the Committee on Education, Mr. Eissler drafted HB 2814. The first problem is that we have too many children who cannot speak English, and who are in the failed bilingual education program. This bill does nothing to help those children. The opposition to the bill is based on a "what is good for the goose is good for the gander" philosophy. In other words, if "IMMERSION" is the best method for learning a foreign language, why not include an amendment for "IMMERSION" in English as well for the benefit of the children who do not speak English (those currently in bi-lingual classes). If we pass this bill, we are in effect saying, "IMMERSION is the best way to teach a foreign language, but the thousands of children in our schools who do not speak English do not deserve the best and will remain in bilingual education classes."

There is also a fear involved: The parent will not be able to choose which language they want their child to speak. It will be chosen by the District, and all students will take the chosen language. The fear is that this could be a vehicle for turning our schools into bilingual schools where all classes would eventually be in English and Spanish and there would be no requirement for Spanish-speaking children to ever learn English which would be yet another chip out of our sovereignty (which is protected by our immigration laws that require people to learn English as a part of assimilating and keeping our country unified) and another step in the direction of multiculturalism (also a failed societal pholosophy as evidenced in France, England, and the Middle East).

Please read Don Van Slyke's note below. Don is the vigilant one on this issue and the one who has brought the deficiencies of this legislation to light. We ask that you contact Eissler's office 512 463 0797 and Craddick's office 512 463-1000 andstrongly oppose this legislation (see the House Bills below) on the basis that it is unfair to the non-English speaking children in our schools, and is a contradiction to the goal of the Board of Education to teach English, and potentially the laws of our country to learn English.

This is a dangerous piece of legislation and needs to be defeated until it takes into account the above concerns and deals with them
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please call your Texas Senator and Representative to complain about this outrageous Spanish ONLY TAKS testing. See below.

Please ask your State Senator and Representative to OPPOSE HB 1270 and 2814 when they come up for a vote. HB 1270 moved to the Senate late yesterday and HB 2814 is on the calendar for Monday, April 23rd.

Neither of these bills specifies English. HB 2814 specifies "will commit to a language immersion program in a language other than English as selected by the district for a minimum of three years in elementary grades".