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Biliteracy
Urgent Action Alert_Support Multilingualism
SIGN AND SEND LETTER TODAY – URGENT: RE: Invest $84 million for the Promotion and Support of Biliteracy and Multilingualism for all students and Building Bilingual Teacher Capacity and the Separate Request for $30 million for ECE Professional Development
Your help is needed to convince the members of the Legislative Budget Sub-Committees on Education Finance to provide funding for the purpose of promoting and supporting biliteracy and multilingualism for all students, from Early Childhood through the 12th grade!
Please click on the link below to sign the letter to let Assembly Member McCarty, chairperson of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee #2, and the committee members know how important this is to our children, schools and communities. We need them to approve this budget request and the inclusion of $114 million dollars over 3 years in the proposed 2019-2020 state budget; $84 million for LEAs for bilingual programs and building bilingual teacher capacity and $30 million for professional development for ECE teachers.
Continued investments by the Legislature in programs, professional learning, building bilingual teacher capacity, and early childhood dual language learning are critical for preparing all of our students, including English learners, to graduate with biliteracy skills and cross-cultural competencies and to contribute and compete in a global economy.
Please act TODAY and sign the letter! Join us in ensuring opportunities are available to not only support students acquiring English but to value bilingualism, biliteracy, and the language assets of our state’s diverse student population in the years to come!
Letters must be sent by 3:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 21, 2019!!
Support Multilingualism in the State Budget
Your help is needed in convincing the members of the Legislative Budget Sub-Committees on Education Finance to provide funding for the purpose of promoting and supporting biliteracy and multilingualism for all students, from Early Childhood through the 12th grade!
Please act now and send a letter to Senator Roth, chairperson of the Senate Budget Subcommittee #1, and to Assembly Member McCarty, chairperson of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee #2.
We need to let decision makers know how important this investment is to our communities and why we need them to approve this budget request and include it in the 2019-2020 state budget ECE and K-12 education components.
Continued investments by the Legislature in programs, professional learning, building bilingual teacher capacity, and early childhood dual language learning are critical for preparing all of our students, including English learners, to graduate with biliteracy skills and cross-cultural competencies.
Join us in ensuring opportunities are available not only to support students acquiring English but to value bilingualism, biliteracy, and the language assets of our state’s diverse student population in the years to come!
TAKE ACTION! Assembly Bill AB 1012 (Reyes)
ASSEMBLY BILL AB 1012 (Reyes)
Amended March 14, 2019
Bilingual and Biliteracy Program Support and Recognition
We need your help to show the members of the Assembly Education Committee that we are serious about implementing the promise of Proposition 58 of 2016 – Biliteracy for All Students!!
AB 1012 (Reyes), amended March 14, 2019, will further invest in establishing new dual language immersion and developmental bilingual programs and in building the bilingual teacher capacity needed to teach our students from pre-school and Kindergarten through 12th grade!
AB 1012 (Reyes) proposes to provide three years of funding, beginning fiscal year 2020-2021 through 2022-2023! Additionally, an investment is proposed to build the capacity of our bilingual teacher preparation programs in Schools of Education at the UC, CSU systems and private non-profit postsecondary education institutions, as well as preparing ECE teachers on the strategies and best practices of instructing children who are dual language learners in early childhood education programs at the Community College system.
Lastly, AB 1012 (Reyes) would provide state recognition of exemplary dual language immersion or dual immersion programs in licensed child care development programs and in elementary and secondary schools that promote dual language development and biliteracy.
AB 1012 (Reyes) is sponsored by CABE, Californians Together, Early Edge and the Advancement Project. Help us provide the critical resources necessary for districts and schools to begin implementing the vision of biliteracy for all. The bill will be heard on April 10, 2019.
Please click on link below to send a letter NOW and show the members of the Assembly Education Committee the support this bill has from educators, parents and communities from throughout the state!!!.
Thank you!!
ACTION ALERT: Ask the Governor to Sign AB 2514 (Thurmond) – Growing Bilingual Programs
We want to thank each of you for sending letters a few weeks ago to get AB 2514 (Thurmond) out of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Our voices were heard and the bill passed out of committee unanimously with a bipartisan vote. Your help is now needed to convince Governor Brown to sign AB 2514 (Thurmond) Dual Language Grant Programs into law.
AB 2514 (Thurmond) proposes to provide up to $300,000 in grant funding to eligible schools, county offices of education and consortia so they can either expand or initiate new dual language immersion or developmental bilingual programs. What’s exciting about this bill is that grant funding would also be given to eligible schools, county offices of education, or consortia interested in establishing bilingual programs for their dual language learners in preschools!
Although no funding was allocated in this year’s budget, the signing of AB 2514 by the Governor will allow us to pursue funding next year in the 2019-2020 state budget. The bill is very clear in stating that its provisions will not be implemented if no funding is appropriated.
Letters must be sent to Governor Brown to convince him that the public and members of the education community seek his support to keep the promise of Proposition 58 by promoting and supporting dual language immersion and developmental bilingual programs.
SACRAMENTO BEE – Tom Torlakson: This is why California needs to expand bilingual education
My recent visit to Cahuenga Elementary School in Los Angeles gave me a glimpse of what California’s future could be if we seize the opportunity to expand the teaching of world languages.
At Cahuenga, beginning in kindergarten, many students learn Korean or Spanish along with English, while learning about Korean and Latin culture through music, dance, theater and literature. These dual-language immersion programs, like 400 others in California public schools, put students on the path to fluency in two or more languages.
Numerous studies show that fluency in another language boosts students’ mental flexibility and enhances their ability to learn all subjects, including their native language.
Bilingual students have to switch back and forth between languages, which helps them develop strong attention control and skills that help them academically and socially. They often understand language structures better than their single-language peers, giving them a potential advantage in reading and writing.
Learning a foreign language introduces students to new cultures, giving them a broad perspective that helps prepare them for the global economy. Bilingual students are in high demand and generally earn slightly higher salaries once they enter the workforce.
This exciting research inspired me to launch Global California 2030, which seeks to double the number of world language classes taught in California schools, more than double the number of bilingual teachers authorized each year and more than triple the number of graduating high school students who receive a state seal of biliteracy on their diplomas. Perhaps most importantly, it seeks to quadruple the number of dual language immersion programs to 1,600 by 2030.
In 2016, California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 58 and removed outdated barriers to setting up dual immersion programs, signaling clearly that they want more such programs.
Yet these programs are so scarce, parents sometimes have to win a lottery to enroll their child. That needs to change. Every parent should have the opportunity to let their child learn a second language at an early age.
That’s why I support Assembly Bill 2514, which is currently pending in the Legislature. This bill, introduced by Assemblyman Tony Thurmond, D-Richmond, provides 10 grants of $300,000 to local districts to help them set up dual-language immersion programs, developmental bilingual programs for English learners, or early learning dual language programs.
I am urging educators, parents and community leaders to join my efforts to pass this legislation and to enact the broader goals of Global California 2030. Fluency in two languages helps our students succeed academically, socially and economically, while strengthening the rich mixture of heritages and languages that help California stay a global economic and cultural leader.
Tom Torlakson is state Superintendent of Public Instruction. He can be contacted at [email protected].