Federal Judge William Wayne Justice has ruled that the state of Texas is not complying with the requirement, under the Equal Opportunity Act, that they adequately educate students with limited english proficiency:
Justice noted that the eighth-grade achievement gap for reading never got better than 48 percentage points between limited English proficient students and all students from 2003 to 2006. The 10th-grade achievement gap for mathematics never got better than 31 percentage points during that same time period. And the 11th-grade achievement gap for science never got better than 30 percentage points.
Justice's ruling noted the testimony from former State Board of Education member Joe Bernal of San Antonio, who called the test scores "horribly bad," and also from former Education Commissioner Shirley Neely who said: "There's not anybody in their right mind that would say these are good scores."
The court ruling is significant because "140,000-plus English language learners at the secondary level will not be forgotten, and they will not be pushed aside by the state as a matter of convenience," said David Hinojosa, San Antonio-based staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which helped develop the case on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens and the American GI Forum.
"The opportunities and the expectations for those students will not be forgotten if the state lives up to its responsibilities," Hinojosa said.
The Texas Education Agency disagrees and has asked the Texas Attorney General to appeal the ruling, which they are mulling over apparently.
Here's a book about the judge.
