Free Republic

Hoping to appeal to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's immigrant roots, educators and legislators Thursday called on the Austrian-born leader to support the use of special textbooks geared toward students born outside the United States. "You're also an immigrant. You still know exactly what I'm talking about, governor," Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Whittier, said during a news conference promoting her bill aimed at bridging the gap between native and non-native students. Senate Bill 1769 would require the state Board of Education to develop an approach to teaching reading and writing that incorporates English instruction for non-native speakers. Advocates envision textbooks and teaching materials...

A high-decibel debate among education officials, politicians and advocates of bilingual schooling that led to the recent yanking of funds from the state Board of Education boils down to one difficult question: How should California teach roughly a quarter of the state's public school population -- students who are not native English speakers -- how to read and write? The persistent issue moved into the spotlight last week when former governors Gray Davis and Pete Wilson urged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to resist bilingual activists and stick with California's current approach to teaching English learners how to read and write. There...

Teachers, school district disagree over new rules under Prop. 227 For the first time in years, Santa Rosa City Schools will have no students in bilingual classes this fall. The elimination of bilingual education is the newest result of Proposition 227, a 1998 voter-approved law that sought to limit instruction to English in California's public schools. Although the proposition allows parents who want their children instructed in other languages to receive waivers, it does not allow bilingual instruction unless at least 20 waivers are requested in any one grade. This year, for the first time, no Santa Rosa class had...

<p>SANTA ANA – Nativo Lopez was ousted from the Santa Ana Unified school board Tuesday in an electoral aftershock to California's referendum on bilingual education.</p> <p>The fiery immigrant-rights leader will now be replaced by county administrator and former school board member Rob Richardson, 42.</p>