Separating fact from fiction about education.
Informational series for business leaders, policy makers, community leaders and members of the media.
Fiction:
Bilingual education is too expensive.
What the fiction suggests:
Bilingual education is impractical because it costs $8 to $11 billion and because there are 180 languages spoken by America's students.
Amounts of $8 to $11 billion have been estimated, but they are misleading. They are calculated by multiplying $5,000 (the average yearly cost of educating a child in the United States) by 2.3 million students who speak a language other than English. But this does not reflect the cost of bilingual education. It simply represents an estimate of the cost of educating those 2.3 million students whether or not they are taught in a bilingual classroom.1 Regardless of their language, all children need teachers, classrooms and books. Dealing with 180 languages could be impractical. But even in cities where many languages are used, individual schools teach students who speak the same few foreign languages. For example in Tucson and Denver, there are 60 to 75 languages represented in public schools, yet no single school has more than four languages represented.2
Fact:
Bilingual education is an investment that pays off.
What the truth means:
Bilingual education pays off in terms of schools that are teaching more efficiently and taxpayer money that is saved.
Costs for bilingual instruction remain essentially the same as in a regular classroom except for the marginal expenses of instructional materials and placement tests.3 Studies in Texas, Utah and Colorado indicate the estimated cost of bilingual education to be 25 to 34 percent above the cost of regular classroom instruction depending on the grade and type of program.4 For example, last year Texas spent $3,510 per child for basic education.5 An additional $230 was spent for each child in a bilingual program. That amounts to less than 1 percent of the state's education budget.6
The fact is, most bilingual education programs suffer from inadequate funding. Texas, for example, spends only one-third of what is needed to have effective bilingual programs.7
Bilingual education is an investment that pays off in the long run. In Texas, an investment of $230 for a student in a bilingual program usually leads to the student not being retained and not having to repeat the grade at a cost of at least $3,510. Nationally, in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s dropout rates for Hispanic students ranged from 60-80 percent.8 Today, the dropout rate is 30 percent, still unacceptably high, but dramatically lower than before.9 How does this save money? An IDRA study has found that for every $1 spent on education, there is a return of $9.10
"Bilingual education ensures that students who are not native English speakers get the necessary grounding in core academic subjects while making the transition to all-English classes."
– Richard W. Riley, Secretary of Education, October 16, 1995
References
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"Bilingual Education: Separating Fact from Fiction," NABE News, National Association for Bilingual Education, September 18, 1995.
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(same as Note 1).
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Cárdenas, J.A. "Bilingual Education: Its Analysis, Needs and Cost," Multicultural Education: A Generation of Advocacy, Simon and Schuster, 1995.
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Cárdenas, J.A. and J. Bernal, William Kean. Bilingual Education Cost Analysis,(Texas), Intercultural Development Research Association, August 1976; Zamora, M.G. and R. Zarate, M. Robledo Montecel, J.A. Cárdenas. Bilingual Education Cost Analysis - Utah, Intercultural Development Research Association, August 1979; Zamora, M.G. and R. Zarate, M. Robledo Montecel, J.A. Cárdenas. Bilingual Education Cost Analysis - Colorado, Intercultural Development Research Association, August 1979.
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Legislative Budget Board, Austin, Texas, September 30, 1996.
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Texas State Senator Gregory Luna, October 1996; Texas Education Agency, October 1996.
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(same as Note 4).
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Cárdenas, J.A. "VSP: Key to Minority Education," Multicultural Education: A Generation of Advocacy, Simon and Schuster, 1995; Sosa, A.S. Questions and Answers About Bilingual Education," Intercultural Development Research Association, 1993.
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National Center for Education Statistics, 1996.
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Cárdenas, J.A. and M. Robledo Montecel, J. Supik. Texas Dropout Survey Project, Intercultural Development Research Association, 1986.
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U.S. Department of Education, "Updates on Legislation, Budget and Activities," Internet posting, October 3, 1996.
© 1996.
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