Senators attack anti-bilingual education initiative

Ed Hayward
Boston Herald
Saturday, October 5, 2002

The state's U.S. senators yesterday denounced Question 2 on the
November ballot, a referendum that would end bilingual education
programs and require most students to spend just one year in an
English immersion course.

U.S. Sens. John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy sent a letter to
organizers fighting the ballot measure, proposed and guided by
California software entrepreneur Ron Unz, who ushered similar
measures through his home state and Arizona .

``We believe Massachusetts should focus on helping every child learn
English and meet academic standards,'' the two senators wrote. ``The
Unz Initiative would compromise that goal by mandating a
one-size-fits-all approach.''

The pair provided the letter to the Committee for Fairness to
Children and Teachers, the political campaign organized to fight the
Unz measure, which so far enjoys a wide margin of support in polls.

Neither Unz nor English for the Children campaign Chairman Lincoln
Tamayo could be reached yesterday.

The senators backed Beacon Hill legislators' recent overhaul of
bilingual education for the state's 44,000 limited English proficient
students.