LOS ANGELES – (INT) - Hilda Maldonado is an evangelist for bilingual education. As head of multilingual programming for the Los Angeles Unified School District, she welcomed California's vote last November to repeal an almost two-decade-old mandate for English-only classes in public schools.

Her district's 640,000-plus students collectively speak 93 languages. Maldonado said, "Forty-nine percent of the students in this district come with a second language. We should see that as a wealth of our state and not as something we must eliminate."

California voters last November overwhelmingly approved Proposition 58. Now, Maldonado and other Californians are scrambling to prepare for the initiative, which takes effect in July.

More control for schools

As The Los Angeles Times explains, the measure gives communities and their schools more control over whether to offer bilingual education and, if they do, which language to choose besides English. Prop 58 still requires that all students develop proficiency in English.

Story Date: January 20, 2017