2002-11-05-State-Election-Warrant

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All English learners in grades kindergarten and up would take annual standardized tests of English skills. All English learners in grades 2 and up would take annual written standardized tests, in English, of academic subjects. Severely learning disabled students could be exempted from the tests. Individual scores would be released only to parents, but aggregate scores, school and school district rankings, the number of English learners in each school and district, and related data would be made public. The proposed law would provide, subject to the state Legislature's appropriation, $5 million each year for 10 years for school committees to provide free or low-cost English language instruction to adults who pledged to tutor English learners. The proposed law would replace the current law, under which a school committee must establish a transitional bilingual education program for any 20 or more enrolled children of the same language group who cannot do ordinary classwork in English and whose native language is not English or whose parents do not speak English. In that program, schools must teach all required courses in both English and the child's native language; teach both the native language and English; and teach the history and culture of both the native land of the child's parents and the United States. Teaching of non-required subjects may be in a language other than English, and for subjects where verbalization is not essential (such as art or music), the child must participate in regular classes with English-speaking students. Under the current law, a child stays in the program for 3 years or until the child can perform successfully in English-only classes, whichever occurs first. A test of the child's English skills is given each year. A school committee may not transfer a child out of the program before the third year unless the parents approve and the child has received an English-skills test score appropriate to the child's grade level. A child may stay in the program longer than 3 years if the school committee and the parent or guardian approve. Parents must be informed of their child's enrollment in the program and have the right to withdraw their child from the program. The proposed law's testing requirements would take effect immediately, and its other requirements would govern all school years beginning after the proposed law's effective date. The proposed law states that if any of its parts were declared invalid, the other parts would stay in effect. A YES VOTE would require that, with limited exceptions, all public school children must be taught English by being taught all subjects in English and being placed in English language classrooms. A NO VOTE would make no changes in English language education in public schools. QUESTION 3: THIS QUESTION IS NOT BINDING Do you support taxpayer money being used to fund political campaigns for public office in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? QUESTION 4: THIS QUESTION IS NOT BINDING (9`h Middlesex — Precincts 2, 3, 4) Shall the state representative from this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation that would fully implement and fund the state's voter-approved Clean Elections law, which provides a set amount of public funding for candidates who agree to strict fundraising and spending limits?