Administration, Congress Weigh In on Bilingual Education

By Jessica Portner

Washington

The Clinton administration took the unusual step of weighing in on state policy last week, leveling criticism at the ballot initiative in California that would virtually eliminate bilingual programs in the Golden State. President Clinton and Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley said they felt compelled to speak out against the initiative.

Proposition 227, which goes before California voters June 2, would require most students with limited English skills to have intensive English instruction for no more than a year before moving into regular classrooms where only English is spoken. Under the proposal, parents must apply for a waiver to keep their children in an alternative program. ( "Prop. 227 Could Torpedo 'Two Way' Language Programs," in This Week's News.

"Proposition 227 is not the way to go," Secretary Riley said in a written statement released last week. "This one-year time limit and one-size-fits-all approach to learning flies in the face of years of research that tells us that children learn in different ways...