Federal judge William Wayne Justice ruled Friday that the Texas Education Agency has not done enough for the education of bilingual students, and its’ now on the clock. The TEA has until January to submit a plan to Justice to remedy what he sees as state shortcomings.
The ruling was in response to a lawsuit by the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund. MALDEF pointed at scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills as proof the state had not improved the education of bilingual students at the secondary level.
Justice reversed his own 2007 ruling, which looked at K-12 education overall and did not focus on secondary education.
MALDEF also alleged that bilingual programs were inadequately monitored.
Word is that the Lege had hoped to focus the 2009 session on transportation issues, with that being the sunset year for TxDOT, and push any major education issues back to 2011.
With this on the agenda, that’s going to open the floor to other education related items.
And, while I know that house and senate committees meet regularly in the off years, let me once again point out the stupidity of a legislature representing 20 million people meeting only every other year.
Sidebar – while Justice’s ruling applies only in Texas, MALDEF is going to be pushing other states with growing Hispanic populations to get on the ball, too
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