Dive Brief:

• California voters approved the return of bilingual education earlier this month but it will be up to individual districts to bring back the model and staffing is sure to be a challenge.
• The Los Angeles Times reports the overwhelming passage of Proposition 58 — which garnered 73% of the vote — comes at a time when only 693 teachers were certified in bilingual education last year, down from 1,268 six years ago, and 1.4 million students statewide are English learners.
• Bilingual education advocates say parents and teachers will play an important role in requesting  the programs and contributing to their development, and English-speaking families are expected to form a critical mass when it comes to demanding the programs.

Dive Insight:

California first banned bilingual education programs in 1998 through Proposition 227, which allowed for exceptions if enough parents in a single school district requested a waiver. While the number of bilingual education programs in the state plummeted following the ballot initiative, some do exist, including programs in charter and private schools, which were never bound by the law.

Arizona followed suit with a similar ballot question in 2000 and Massachusetts did the same in 2002. Both of those states still have their bilingual education bans in place, though advocates in Massachusetts have been trying to get a bill passed for several years that would expand opportunities for schools. In Massachusetts, certain bilingual education programs were allowed under the 2002 law — if they taught English-speakers a second language or helped them become bilingual alongside their English learner peers.