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Amendment 31 (Colorado)

Amendment 31, a proposed change to the Colorado constitution, titled “English Language Education for Children in Public School,” was presented to voters on November 5, 2002. Had it passed, that amendment would have constituted the most rigid and restrictive antibilingual education bill in history. Its passage would most likely have led to the demise of bilingual education and dual-language programs in the state and to the denial of parents' rights to select their preferred educational programs for their children. Further, it would have set a precedent for the establishment of equally restrictive in other states. Colorado voters soundly defeated Amendment 31 by a margin of 56% to 44%. This defeat was the final part of a Colorado saga that had begun 2 years earlier.

Prelude

In March 2000, an early version of Amendment 31 was brought to Colorado. The proposed initiative, then titled “English for the Children,” was officially sponsored by Joe Chavez and Charles King; however, it was publicly championed by Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo and former Denverite Linda Chavez, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative Washington think tank. Proponents of this early version of Amendment 31 were hoping to get their proposal on the 2000 ballot. The first victory for opponents of the initiative in Colorado came on June 30, 2000. On this date, the Supreme Court of Colorado unanimously ruled that the initiative could not go forward because it contained language that was “deceptive” and “misleading.”

This court ruling was significant for several reasons. First, the wording of the court's decision provided language that could be used in future political campaigns. Second, Colorado's initiative process allows for voter-initiated referenda to be floated only in even-numbered years, thereby giving the campaign 2 additional years to further organize and solidify its strategies. Third, the extra time also allowed opponents to plan a better defense against the initiative.

Provisions of the Amendment Proposal

Two years later, in January 2002, Rita Montero and Janine Chavez (daughter of Joe Chavez, a sponsor of the 2000 initiative) submitted Amendment 31. Amendment 31 would have required that “children who are learning English be placed in an English immersion program that is intended to last for 1 year or less and, if successful, will result in placement of such children in ordinary classrooms.” As in other states, Amendment 31 was intended to replace bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) programs with a 1-year “Sheltered English Immersion Program,” the latter being only vaguely defined in the amendment. The amendment proposal purported to allow for parent waivers so that parents who wished could have their children continue bilingual or ESL classes. Parent waivers were to be granted to families whose children met one of three conditions: (1) They were already proficient in English; (2) they were 10 years of age or older; or (3) they had special individual needs. As with other states, Amendment 31 also included clauses to allow parents to sue schools and teachers for enforcement of the amendment, while concomitantly denying these educators the right to third-party indemnification. Parents' right to sue for enforcement or damages suffered by their children would have been granted for a period of 10 years. Finally, the amendment required that a standardized, nationally normed written test of academic subject matter be given each year to all children in Grade 2 or higher who were English language learners.

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