CA may weaken limited-English-proficiency (LEP) requirements

Tell the CA Assembly to vote NO on SB 930! 

California State Assembly
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California State Assembly

Tomorrow, the California State Assembly’s Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing to consider SB 930, a bill that will weaken limited-English-proficiency (LEP) requirements under the Public School Performance Accountability Program. Currently, students who have limited English skills have one year to take the CA standardized test in their native language. After that year, they must take the test in English.

SB 930 attempts to reinstate harmful pre-Proposition 227 practices by imposing a state-mandated local program to:

  • Expand the number of years English learners can take a primary language test from one year to three years.
  • Allow LEP students to take the pupil assessment tests twice, one in English and one in their primary language.
  • Incorporate the higher of the two test scores (even if the higher score was achieved on the primary language test) into the calculation of the Academic Performance Index (API. The cornerstone of California’s Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999; measures the academic performance and growth of schools on a variety of academic measures).

SB 930 is bad legislation.  Delaying the learning of English, the language of school and community life, lowers student grades on standard achievement tests. With 327 languages spoken in the U.S. today, the job of our public schools is not to maintain native languages, but to give students the tools they need to learn English, the language of success in the United States.

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TAKE ACTION!

Call the members of the Assembly Appropriations Committee before the scheduled hearing tomorrow, Wednesday, August 4th, and tell them to vote NO on SB 930!

SB 930 passed the State Senate by a vote of 23 to 13 (with 2 abstaining) on June 2, 2010 and awaits action on the Assembly floor.  August 13th is the last day for committees to hear and report bills to the floor, so the time to defeat SB 930 is now!

Here is a complete list of email addresses for all Appropriations Committee Members in case you’d like to send emails in addition to placing calls.

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