YES on Prop 58: English Proficiency. Multilingual Education.

For background information on this measure, refer to the Legislative Analyst’s Office analysis included in the Official Voter Information Guide.

League Analysis:

Proposition 58 will repeal the most limiting parts of Proposition 227 of 1998, which severely restricted opportunities for multilingual education in California. It will free schools to offer all children access to the educational program they and their parents find best for them, regardless of the primary language spoken in the home.

The research findings about language acquisition that prompted the League to oppose Prop 227 almost 20 years ago are even stronger now. The advantages to being multilingual, both academically and economically, are even more clearly defined than they were in 1998.

• Language transfers. A strong base in the primary language leads to more rapid advancement in the secondary language for any student.
• Children with a strong primary language base learn a second language more easily and faster at a young age.
• Children who speak a language other than English at home usually do not have an opportunity to move past a conversational level of skill in that language without assistance.
• There are other academic advantages to being able to think bilingually; it offers an alternative way to thinking and addressing problems.
• Once a child is confident of his or her ability to master a second language, learning an additional language becomes easier.
• In a 21st century economy, being fluently multilingual with the ability to read, write and communicate at an academic level is a great advantage to anyone.

Proposition 58 allows, but it does not mandate any school to offer any of a wide range of language programs to any student and their parents. And it still allows the family to accept or reject any program that is offered. This is important to remember, as some opposing the proposition will say it will lead to mandatory programs for students whose home language is not English. It will only remove the restrictive language currently in law and allow an opportunity for various approaches to gaining English proficiency while maintaining or gaining mastery of another language.

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Sample Letter to the Editor

Note: Please adapt this letter to your own community and check your local paper’s word limit for a published letter. If you are not a League president or their designee, you are not authorized to sign letters to the editor in the name of the League. You are encouraged, however, to express your views as a Californian and you are welcome to cite that you agree with the League’s position.

Dear Editor:

Proposition 58 is an opportunity to undo the misguided educational restrictions of a 1998 ballot measure, Proposition 227, and let educators and families choose the most appropriate way to teach children whose primary language is not English.

Proposition 227 was never the choice of most parents who speak a language other than English in the home, or of their children’s teachers. It was fed by fear and a well-financed campaign, and the leader of that campaign is back as the major opponent of Proposition 58. The world has learned much since 1998 about brain development and the way children learn. Academic skills are transferable: math learned in Tagalog is the same math when discussed in English.

Being bilingual or multilingual is an academic and economic asset, not a handicap. A vote for Prop 58 gives control back to schools and parents to choose the most effective way to educate their children. It presents no additional cost to the schools.

Sincerely,
Your name