Colorado students would have to prove competency in English to graduate from high school under a bill the state Senate endorsed Tuesday over objections that it could cause hundreds of students to fail.
“It’s education fraud not to have English competency,” Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, argued during a passionate debate on the Senate floor. “Let’s not perpetuate an injury by giving students a false high-school diploma. Let’s send them the tough-love message that they need to have more learning if they want to thrive in society.”
Opponents of the proposal said it’s unfair to force another government mandate on school districts without providing extra funds. Also, the requirement could lead to higher dropout rates among students who struggle with English.
“I like the goal, but I cannot support this without the money,” said Sen. Sue Windels, the Arvada Democrat who chairs the Senate Education Committee.
Republicans and several Democrats united to move Senate Bill 73 forward on a voice vote. The legislation still needs final approval in the Senate, which could happen as soon as today, before it heads to the House.
School districts would have five years to set up tests or criteria to judge students’ English skills. The legislation specifies that schools cannot use the Colorado Student Assessment Program to determine competency but lets districts decide their own benchmarks.
That is a mistake, said urban- education expert Van Schoales.
“Colorado has a set of state standards. Why would you pass a law that allows 178 school districts to come up with their own rules?” he said. “I think it’s going to lead to more bureaucracy in school districts … that won’t have much of an impact on students’ language acquisition.”
Sen. Chris Romer, the Denver Democrat sponsoring the bill, said non-English-speaking students often are “warehoused in the back of the classroom” and allowed to squeak by with diplomas.
“The public is really asking us to deal with the fact that, demographically, our lives have shifted,” said Romer, son of former Colorado Gov. and Los Angeles schools superintendent Roy Romer.
He pointed to drastic increases in workplace injuries and deaths among Latinos, arguing that Colorado isn’t doing enough to help immigrants assimilate and learn English.
“There is a huge need”
Colorado is one of only two states that do not fund English- as-a-second-language programs for adults.
The number of English-language learners in school systems grew in Colorado by almost 51 percent from 2000 to 2005, according to data released Tuesday by the Migration Policy Institute.
There were roughly 90,000 English-language learners in the state’s schools in the 2004-05 school year.
Annie Floyd, a teacher at New America School – a public charter school for immigrants in Denver – said she supports the legislation because she thinks the mainstream public-school system isn’t doing enough for non- English-speaking students.
Several kids have come to her school after struggling to learn English in other high schools, she said.
“It’s harder for them to get jobs,” Floyd said. “There is a huge need.”
At West High School, where roughly 40 percent of the students are English-language learners, some students said they would welcome more help. They just don’t want it to be required to graduate.
Jazmin Tinoco said she knows students in her American literature class who struggle with the difficult vocabulary.
“They should learn the vocab; they should be pushed,” said Tinoco, an 11th-grader. “But I don’t think they should be punished.”
Senior Marco Meza said it could be discouraging for students who just moved to the U.S.
“It would be OK for me, but what about the people who haven’t had as much practice?” he said. “They would just stay in high school.”
Scores on statewide tests show that students with lagging English skills are falling behind. While 69 percent of students who speak only English met or exceeded reading standards, just 11 percent of students with lagging English proficiency did as well.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
