Ok. I'm nothing if not flexible. Any intelligent education mandate has to take into account the native languages of the school children.

When certain Californian, Texan, Arizonan or New Mexican schools have to take many children of Mexican immigrants, they need a different set of standards than a school in Scottsdale or Rancho Sante Fe. Any rigorous educational mandate needs fine tuning. Provisions for special circumstances need to be built in to these bills and compliance, funding and efficiency should be the responsibility of the States.

I've never believed it was fair to average English as second language test scores with others, it penalizes schools and sets unrealistic expectations for teachers. English as second language students need their own set of criterion and a special set of funds to finance programs geared specifically towards intense English immersion.

Many schools are embracing individual instruction techniques that embrace the strengths of each student and realize the disparity of proficiency in various studies. These bilingual teachers that are often needed to teach English to many students deserve special training and materials, if not additional pay for the greater difficulty of their task.

A special package or section in educational bills should clearly address the southwests immigration and accompanying educational dilemmas. I don't see any obstacle to having these kids speaking fluent English by the time they graduate high school--if they stay in school. Keeping them in school may often depend upon the number of bilingual teachers, realistic and specially constructed programs and an unparalled outreach to parents and households of the importance of learning English.

The liberal streak in me would love to provide free English training for adults in the southwestern region. This would allow parents to go to school as well. However funding such a program would be problematical. Getting other states to fund the needs of the southwest just wont happen and so this type of program would need to be implemented on the state level. Using existing school facilities, night classes could be set up specifically for parents of children in the same school district.

Again, finding funding for this type of program which could be amazingly effective at sustaining school student retention levels is the problem. Perhaps private sector philanthropists need to be approached and state laws made so that creative private-sector financing of certain state programs can be arranged legally.

What we don't need however is a round of tax increases to pay for these things. None of the money ever seems to get where it is supposed to go and it just creates greater burdens upon citizens.

PS
Congratulations on your wife's chosen career. Education is a very rewarding course. If society would put the same value on education, we might see comparable enrichment for those who enrich the lives of others.

(crossposted from Flame with this addition: 'No Child Left Behind' needs fine tuning. Many of these bills need built-in provisions for updating them effortlessly when new and better ideas can be agreed upon)