With their votes in support of amendments to SB 286/HB 491 offered by Representative Carroll, the members of the Florida House of Representatives unanimously demonstrated commitment to maintaining adequate ESOL teacher training standards for Reading teachers. LULAC Florida and the FLSSTESOL Advocacy E-Group thank them for their unanimous support of ESOL students.

The bill has died and the status quo is still in force. English language learners will receive literacy instruction from teachers prepared to provide it as Reading teachers must earn ESOL Endorsement. We encourage our colleagues in Reading to look into the DOE’s reverse crosswalk option for earning ESOL Endorsement and we ask the DOE to set up a task force to seek further improvement along the lines outlined in the second section of the floor amendment. We stand ready to support the Commissioner in that effort.

We appreciate Representative Jennifer Carroll for reaching out to other legislators in an effort to formulate effective policy with regard to English Language Learners. We are grateful to Representatives Zapata, Flores, and Rivera, and to the Dade County Legislative Delegation for their response to statewide concerns by developing creative problem solving approaches.

We thank the parents, educators, community groups, civil rights organizations, education associations, superintendents, school board members and local elected officials, Deans of Colleges of Education, civic leaders, and experts in the education of ESOL students who spoke out in their favor. We thank the Miami-Dade Public School Board members, Superintendent, and staff for their leadership on behalf of ESOL students. Finally, we thank all the policy makers who supported a quality education for ESOL students with their votes, questions, statements, and related efforts over the past two years: Senators Frederica Wilson, Rudy Garcia, Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Nan Rich, Alex Villalobos, Larcenia Bullard; Representatives Anitere Flores, Janet Long, Bill Heller, Jack Seiler, Carlos Lopez-Cantera, David Rivera, Marco Rubio, Darren Soto, J.C. Planas, Yolly Roberson, Joyce Cusack, Ron Saunders, Curtis Richardson, Juan Carlos Zapata; the members of the Florida Hispanic Legislative Caucus, and Governor Charlie Crist.

Hispanics now account for about one in four children younger than 5 in the United States and make up more than 15 percent of the U.S. population. Although not all Hispanics are English language learners, almost half of the three and a half million Hispanics in Florida are relatively recent arrivals. We can expect that many will still be learning English, as will their children. Florida Hispanic students are expected to surge by more than 50 percent by 2018.

The rise in the Latino population has been accompanied by significant, if slower, growth among African Americans and Asians. Asians made up the third-largest minority group in the United States, with 15.2 million. American Indians and Alaska natives totaled 4.5 million while native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders were 1 million. Between 1970 and 2000, the share of foreign-born blacks in the overall black population rose nationwide (to 7.8 percent from 1.3 percent) and in all census regions. Among states, the greatest growth was seen in Florida, where over 22 percent of the black population is foreign born.

Florida’s future, and that of the United States, may well hinge on how well we educate language and other minority students for life beyond high school. That means we should all celebrate the demise of this bill. We need all children to learn to read in English and in other languages as well.

Rosa Castro Feinberg, Ph. D.
Associate Professor (Retired)
Florida International University
Manager, Sunshine State TESOL Advocacy Mailing List
Chair, LULAC Florida Education Advisory Committee