Rep. Adelita Grijalva introduced three bills last week that would fund family literacy classes, dual language programs and teacher training for students learning English.
Grijalva, a Democrat, filed the bills Sept. 16. The same day, Arizona Luminaria and ProPublica reported that Arizona had lowered the score students need to pass the state’s English proficiency test, a change experts warn will push thousands of students out of language services too soon.
The largest of the three bills, the Families Learning and Understanding English Together Act, or FLUENT Act, would authorize $75 million a year from 2027 through 2031 for family literacy programs. Head Start programs, school districts, adult education providers and nonprofits could apply for grants of $150,000 to $1 million a year to teach English and literacy to young children and their caregivers together. Programs would have to serve areas with schools where English learners are a majority of students or a growing share.
The Supporting Young Language Learners’ Access to Bilingual Education Act, or SYLLABLE Act, would fund up to five dual language immersion programs for children from low-income families, from preschool through fifth grade. Students in those programs would learn in English and a second language, and would use the second language for at least half the school day. The bill would authorize $15 million for 2027 and unspecified amounts for the following four years.
The third bill, the Reaching English Learners Act, would create competitive grants of up to five years for colleges that partner with high-need school districts or early childhood programs to train teachers of English learners, including in bilingual and dual language methods. It gives preference to programs that recruit teacher candidates who were once English learners or who come from underrepresented groups. Colleges would have to pay at least half the cost. The bill does not set a dollar amount.
“Superintendent Horne’s mismanagement of the misguided ‘English-only’ model underscores the need for real federal support for English learners, educators, and their families, which is exactly what my legislation would provide. Instead of repeating the mistakes of the past by simply making the English proficiency test easier to pass, we should give students the resources and support they need to actually succeed in the classroom, including through supporting bilingual education.”
Arizona is the only state with English-only laws still in effect in its public schools. Under Proposition 203, which voters approved in 2000, students learning English spend two to four hours a day in separate English instruction.
About 113,000 students took the state’s English proficiency test this year. After the state lowered the passing score, about 30,000 were classified as proficient. That is a pass rate of 26%, up from 12% the year before.
Arizona Luminaria reporter Carolina Cuellar contributed to this story
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