Posted: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:58 PM - 9,579 Readers

By: Brittany Wisch

Efforts to open the first public dual language charter school in Austin failed after Lori May, board treasurer for the Austin Community School, and Cynthia High, Austin Community School board president, proposed their program to the State Board of Education in a hearing last Tuesday. The Austin Community School was competing with five other proposed schools to be the last charter school in Texas.

“It’s not an easy process to open up a charter,” High said. “Still, the school board is actually very interested in a dual language program.”

Austin Community School is a proposed public charter school that would incorporate dual language programs and an International Baccalaureate curriculum for both elementary and middle school students.

International Baccalaureate students learn a second language and the skills to live and work with others internationally. Teachers trained in International Baccalaureate and dual language would instruct both Spanish- and English-speaking children from ages 5 to 7 in grades kindergarten through first grade. The school will continue to add a grade each year until it has enough children to fill kindergarten through eighth grade.

“Research shows that when you teach different languages to children from a young age, that children excel in school and the dropout rates decrease,” May said.

In the past legislative session, the state Legislature refused to pass a bill that would have raised the cap on charter schools in Texas. Therefore, no new charter schools can be considered until the next session in two years. The Texas State Board of Education recently announced that a charter school was closed, giving six schools the chance to receive a charter.

“The first charter schools in Texas were created 10 years ago,” High said. “A lot of them overspent their money, and I think the cap is to keep checks and balances in place.”

The International Baccalaureate curriculum would include language, social studies, mathematics, art, science and technology as well as personal, social and physical education. In the beginning, students would be taught in Spanish. As students progress, English will become more dominant and bilingualism will eventually be achieved.

“Many Spanish-speaking parents are afraid that their children will not learn English,” May said. “Public schools are not preparing these children. Multilingualism for all is a way to prepare them.”

The goal of the Austin Community School is to offer a complete, well-implemented dual language program to all children of Austin, regardless of race or economic background, May said. There are no dual language programs in Austin outside of private schools, and many parents can’t afford to send their children to these schools.

“Our school is not just for Hispanic children,” May said. “Data shows that African-American children excel beautifully in dual language programs.”

High said that it has been proven that it takes between five and seven years to become fully bilingual and bilingually literate. Therefore, students must be a part of the program for at least five years to achieve full acquisition of both English and Spanish.

The Austin Community School will hold a board meeting tonight at 6 p.m. in the Lower Colorado River Authority meeting room on Lake Austin Boulevard to discuss the next steps in receiving the charter for their school.

“Our next step is to try and get the word out and get some finances behind us,” High said. “There have been rumors of other school closures, so we are still in the running and should be hearing something in the next few weeks.”

*  Story Contributed by: Brittany Wisch