APANO urges voters to reject Oregon Ballot Measure 58.  Please read our full statement below.  If you would like No on 58 materials from APANO, available in English, Chinese, Korean and Lao, please contact us.

As parents and as communities, we are deeply disturbed by Ballot Measure 58, because it imposes a one-size-fits-all mandate on all of Oregon’s English-learning students, regardless of their background, their unique abilities, or what works best for each school district.  We know that all students excel when they are given individualized instruction that is based on research. But Measure 58 replaces research-based programs with artificial, arbitrary deadlines that will only leave our students unprepared for the future.

We trust our children’s teachers, principals, and school districts to find successful approaches to teaching our children that reflect their varying needs. They have dedicated their lives to educating children, and they know what works best in their classrooms. But Measure 58 takes this local control away from the people closest to the classroom, and replaces it with a statewide, top-down mandate for learning.

We know that approach won’t work, and it doesn’t reflect the diversity of Oregon.

The Oregon we know is an energetic mix of families from almost every continent. We are from as many newly free Eastern European and former-Soviet states as we have United States. We are from Africa, a continent even more racially and ethnically diverse then America. We’re from Arabia and India and Asia, from societies older than history.

Our personal and our political histories are different. Each of our many communities’ pull to Oregon is as different as the human pressures and economic policies that pushed us from our ancestral homelands. Our circumstances are indeed, very different.

We argue about politics and economics. As immigrants and refugees, we often argue vigorously – but as families and communities we are in always in accord over one thing: All our children’s education.

Nationality and ethnicity and religion aside, we all want our bright boys and our bright girls excelling in school. We dream of them competing in Oregon’s marketplace. We are ambitious peoples.

We respect educators. Immigrant and refugee parents firmly believe our children’s teachers have the heart and the knowledge to deliver our dreams. We trust our teachers because they work their classrooms everyday, because they know their students’ needs. We must not replace that experience with the vague, one-size-fits-all approach of Measure 58.

-Ronault S. Catalini, APANO Board

• Measure 58 is a one-size-fits-all mandate that doesn’t take into account our children’s unique needs and abilities. It is unfair to students and teachers, and doesn’t make exceptions for students with special needs.

• Measure 58 won’t help any students learn English more quickly. Similar bad ideas have been tried in California and Arizona, with no improvements in test scores or graduation rates. Why would we repeat their mistakes in Oregon?

• Measure 58 takes away ability of parents, teachers, and school districts to decide what works best for the students in their communities. As members of communities from around the world, we know that what works in one area may not work in another.

• Measure 58 will impact the Asian/Pacific Islander Americans of Oregon by limiting the equal opportunity for prosperity in our communities.  Taking away proven, quality English language instruction from our children in public schools will create barriers to fair economic and social progress.

• Measure 58 reduces resources for our schools and communities! By arbitrarily cutting off support to English learners, Measure 58 will lower test scores in Oregon’s most vulnerable districts. In order to get all students up to federal standards, Measure 58 will also take money directly out of Oregon classrooms, making it even more difficult to meet federal guidelines. Experts estimate that it will take up to a $500 million dollars in the first two years to get Oregon in compliance with federal standards. Oregon schools and teachers need more resources and stable funding, not unrealistic deadlines and unfunded mandates. VOTE NO!

• Measure 58 breaks down schools and healthcare systems! The cost of this measure will take away valuable and scarce resources from our public schools and other services like healthcare. VOTE NO ON MEASURE 58!

Filed under: Position Statement