Bungling at Department of Education on charter school funding threatens transition to multilingual workforce

The Oregon Department of Education provides next to no support or leadership in the development of foreign language immersion programs, nor do most local school districts. So, parents, concerned that their children develop multilingual skills for the 21^st century political economy, have turned to creating foreign language immersion charter schools. Now, bungling by the Department of Education threatens several of these foreign language immersion charter school start-ups.

The Oregonian article “Loss of grant funding hits Oregon charter schools hard” by Wendy Owen begins (here):

Charter schools across Oregon learned three weeks before school started that they would not receive up to $225,000 each in grants from the state.

From Portland to Bandon, school directors scrambled to fill the void, cutting supplies, counselors, computers, library materials and turning to parents for more donations. In a few cases, the loss of start-up funds may postpone schools opening until next year.

Charter school leaders want to know why they lost the expected funds and why they weren't told sooner. The state says the federal government is at fault; the federal government put the onus back on the state. Either way, it could have a long-lasting impact on the schools.

So far, the Oregon Department of Education has not secured future charter school funding, which comes through a federal grant….

I know of three foreign language immersion charter school start-ups presumably hit hard by this. (I’ve not checked with them individually.) The Spanish language Arco Iris Spanish Immersion School (here) in Beaverton is mentioned in Owens’ article. The Hope Chinese Charter School (here) has been approved by the Beaverton School Board and hopes to open in the Fall of 2012. The Le Monde Immersion School (here) is a French language program currently seeking approval from Portland Public Schools to open in the Fall of 2012.

Not only is the political, educational establishment in Oregon failing to transition to a 21^st century educational system, but, with this bungling of charter school funding, they are severely hampering efforts by parents to make that transition for their children.

Compare this to Utah (here) where they are mainstreaming Mandarin, French and Spanish immersion programs in the public schools statewide and you get a sense of how fast and far Oregon is falling behind.  Utah wants a multilingual workforce. Oregon’s Department of Education does not seem to care.