Voters Widely Support Education Measures

By Robert C. Johnston

Despite the nation's troubled economic times, voters across the country approved several state and local ballot measures Nov. 5 that call for billions of dollars in new spending on school programs for students of all ages.

Meanwhile, the string of state-ballot victories by foes of bilingual education was broken in Colorado, where a surge of last-minute spending helped defeat a measure there that would have all but ended bilingual education. A similar ballot proposal passed easily in Massachusetts, however.

Elections 2002 Voters in California and Arizona passed initiatives in 1998 and 2000, respectively, that significantly curtailed bilingual...