Do you sometimes feel as if your teacher is speaking a foreign language? There are 1.4 million kids in California who may feel that way all the time if voters approve a new plan on June 2.
These kids belong to the state's large population of immigrants who don't speak English. California's schoolkids speak 140 different languages!
Many of these students are being taught subjects in their own language as part of a program called bilingual education. Classes are taught in 55 languages. As kids get better at English, they are switched over to classes taught in English, but sometimes this takes years. Last year only 6.7% of the students in bilingual programs were moved into English-only classes.
The new plan, called Proposition 227, would give kids just one year to learn English before they are switched. The plan was first proposed by a businessman named Ron Unz. He believes the current system is expensive and fails to teach kids to read and write in English. Polls show that about 60% of Californians agree with Unz.
President Bill Clinton is against Proposition 227. He plans to travel to California to speak out against it. Says Education Secretary Richard Riley: "Adoption of the amendment will lead to many children falling behind in their studies."