English Learners News in Brief

California Poised to Repeal Limits on Bilingual Ed.

By Lesli A. Maxwell — September 09, 2014 1 min read
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A piece of legislation aimed at asking voters to overturn a 16-year-old state law that restricts the use of bilingual education in California’s public schools has made it out of the legislature and now awaits action from Gov. Jerry Brown.

The state legislature last month voted in favor of the measure that seeks to repeal Proposition 227, the 1998 voter-approved ballot initiative that severely limited the availability of bilingual education programs for the state’s large share of students who are still learning English.

If signed by Gov. Brown, a Democrat, it would give voters a chance to reconsider whether English-only instruction ought to remain as the predominant approach to educating English-language learners.

The new measure would appear on the November 2016 ballot.

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A version of this article appeared in the September 10, 2014 edition of Education Week as California Poised to Repeal Limits on Bilingual Ed.

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