Glodis has promised to bring the issue to voters on the November 2002 ballot if the legislative channel fails. If this happens, Massachusetts would be yet another project of Silicon Valley businessman Ron K. Unz. Unz bankrolled the successful 1998 ballot initiative that dismantled California's bilingual education, in which students were taught mainly in their native language while gradually learning English. Unz is now focusing on efforts in Colorado and New York, but he said he is prepared to head to Massachusetts to help with a ballot referendum next year. The law mandates three years of the program, but schools can opt for longer stints with parental approval.
Many districts offer other instructional models, but transitional bilingual education is the staple.
Critics say students can languish in these programs for years, with little academic progress to show for it. Supporters say English learners need time, and argue that these programs suffer from misconceptions about what goes on in the classroom. With educators and policy makers still embroiled in the fight over how best to teach English, the scene inside a U.S. bilingual education classroom varies from one school to the next. And learning in a different time zone, children in Suzanne Neel's kindergarten bilingual education class in Dallas gathered on the floor on a typical day earlier this year. But she weaves in both languages, relying on observations of her students' familiarity with English to be her guide.