Hey Oregonians! It is election season. Your ballot should have arrived in your mailbox by now. If it didn’t and you are registered, you should definitely give your local county elections division a call.
There is a lot on the Oregon ballot this year. Some of it can be confusing and overwhelming. We strongly encourage you to take the time to learn about the various initiatives on the ballot to inform your final decision. We don’t make it a practice to provide public endorsements of specific candidates or initiatives, but in some cases we do like to share our opinions and feelings.
For instance, we count ourselves among the many small business owners who strongly endorse Barack Obama for president. Also we have previously written about our support for renewal of the Portland Children’s Levy. Today, we wanted to encourage you to vote NO on Measure 58.
What is Measure 58? Measure 58 would mandate that all school districts in the state limit bilingual education for non-English speaking students to one or two years, depending on the child’s age.
The underlying presumption of the Measure’s author, Bill Sizemore, is that school districts using bilingual and dual immersion programs (such as those found at Beach and Atkinson Elementary Schools in Portland) to meet federal requirements (Title VII) are intentionally extending their programs and delaying student progress in an attempt to get more funding.
That is quite an accusation and, as will happen in politics, no credible evidence of any kind has been offered to support this indictment of Oregon’s school districts. Instead, voters are being asked to support a Measure that purports to solve the problem that simply does not exist.
Since it doesn’t have a problem to solve, what will Measure 58 do? Without a doubt, our education system requires some checks and balances. However, most people would agree that how to best serve students should be determined as close to the classroom as possible. Measure 58 would impose a one-size-fits-all approach to bilingual education and take decisions on how to best serve the needs of non-English speaking students out of the hands of local school districts.
If Measure 58 passes, who will control what happens in the classroom for these students? At least initially, it will be the courts. Passage of Measure 58 will require extensive – and expensive – review within the courts to determine what it really means.
Education policy is not simple; there are a lot of federal and state mandates already. Among other things, imposition of Measure 58 could undermine the ability of local school districts to fulfill federal requirements outlined in No Child Left Behind Act and the Bilingual Education Act.
What’s the bottomline? Measure 58 is a solution to a problem that does not exist. But imposing Measure 58 on local school districts could create a whole host of real problems.
Thankfully, there is an easy solution: Vote NO on Measure 58.
Thanks for listening