In this diary I have copied and pasted in its entirety, a comment written by “Lucas” in the Santa Barbara Independent. I would post a link to the comment, but I cannot figure out how to do that. I did make a few minor editing corrections like capitalizing words that should have been capitalized or putting a space between a comma and the next letter, or some other inconsequential edit.
I am surprised you inferred any support of Prop 58 in what I said. I must have been unclear. I definitely oppose Prop 58. The voter guide makes it sound like Prop 58 is "adding" language learning opportunities for native-English speakers, specifically the ability to be placed in bilingual classes. These bilingual classes are taught in Spanish, so placement is effectively a mainstream Spanish immersion for native speakers of English.
Parents of native English speakers have always been able to enroll their kids in bilingual Spanish classes. So Prop 58 is adding nothing, but it is taking away the ability of Hispanics parents to decide whether they want their kids in bilingual classes or not. Hispanic parents want the same choice this proposition purports to give parents of native English speakers, that is, the choice to put their kids in mainstream English immersion, just as native English speaking parents can put their kids in mainstream Spanish immersion.
Hispanic parents won the right to make that choice with the passage of Prop 227 in 1998. Prop 58 adds nothing, BUT it does take that choice away from parents by getting rid of the waiver requirement. Under current rules, the schools must get a waiver from the Hispanic parents in order to put the child in a bilingual class. Every year, the waiver must be renewed. If the parent does not sign the waiver, the child is mainstreamed. Prop 58 removes the waiver requirement, thus schools will be able to place Hispanic kids in bilingual classes regardless of what the parent wants.
Most Hispanic parents choose mainstreaming, so I suppose the unintended consequence is a paucity of bilingual classes for the white kids to join. It is hard to have a mainstream Spanish class if all the Spanish speakers have been mainstreamed. Creating Spanish immersion opportunities for white kids by placing Hispanic kids in bilingual classes against the parents' will is a bad idea.
There is another problem. The school gets extra Federal dollars for every Hispanic kid placed in bilingual classes. These kids are also excused from taking the annual high-stakes tests, thus raising the school's scores. Proposition 58 is an underhanded and cynical way to create benefits for the school and white parents, not Hispanic parents.
These 3 benefits are 1) more Federal dollars, 2) exclusion of Hispanic students' scores from the school average, and 3) forcing Hispanic kids into Spanish classes so white parents will have a Spanish immersion option for their own kids.
Vote NO on Proposition 58.