The frontrunner in Los Angeles's mayoral election, Nithya Raman, has condemned a proposal from the Trump administration to make federal early education programs conduct all lessons in English.
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programs → condemn → English
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last month announced the proposed change to Head Start, a nationwide taxpayer-funded program that offers preschool and other early education services to low-income families.
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that → announce → families
Under Head Start's current framework, teachers and aides are required to speak the predominant home language of their students, families can request what language developmental assessments for their children are conducted in, and essential materials for parents are offered in various languages.
All of those elements of the federal program would be gutted by the English-only proposal, impacting nearly 290,000 dual-language learners across the country.
Supporters say the change would help children learn English and better prepare them for school, while critics say it would actually slow children's ability to learn the language and undermine their early education more broadly.
Raman is among the most high-profile critics of the change. In a statement posted to X on Tuesday, she said she was 'outraged' by the proposal.
'Kids who grow up bilingual are prepared for the future.
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who → require → future
This isn't really about improving the quality of early education - it's part of a bigger campaign to target and destabilize immigrant families,' Raman said.
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Raman → improve → families
She pledged that if elected, she would 'bring the full weight of the mayor's office to fight this cruel mandate and work with our school district to call for a joint lawsuit if needed to protect our families' rights.'
Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman has criticized a proposal from the Trump administration to make a federal early education program conduct all lessons in English
The change was proposed for Head Start, a nationwide federal program that offers early education services to low-income families.
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that → pledge → families
Preschoolers are pictured (stock image)
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Preschoolers → picture → image
The Trump administration has said that the English-only mandate 'opens doors economically,' and would bring Head Start in line with the president's executive order designating English as the official language of the US.
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mandate → say → US
An HHS spokesperson shot back at criticism of the proposal in a statement to the Los Angeles Times that said: 'Head Start is designed to prepare young children to be ready to enter school.
'
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children → shoot → school
Providing a firm foundation in the English language is a critical part of that preparation.'
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Providing → provide → preparation
HHS has also explained that children whose native language is not English or who do not speak the language would receive priority for English instruction.
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who → explain → instruction
Some American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start programs using Tribal languages would also be exempt from the change.
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programs → use → change
Despite those assurances, Raman said that Los Angeles has 'seen this playbook before' and expressed concern that the city's large multilingual communities would be hit particularly hard by the proposal.
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communities → say → proposal
She said that the Los Angeles Unified School District serves more than 400,000 students speaking more than 150 languages.
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District → say → languages
The mayoral candidate also referenced Proposition 227, a California law passed in 1998 that shut down most of the state's bilingual K-12 programs before it was repealed in 2016.
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it → reference → 2016
Raman said that removing bilingual early education is ineffective and cited a former California law that was repealed in 2016 as an example
Studies conducted after the law was repealed show that students who received bilingual instruction demonstrated higher English proficiency.
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who → say → proficiency
A preschooler is pictured (stock image)
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preschooler → picture → ?
Prop 227 targeted immigrant and working families, banned transitional bilingual education, and set back a generation of Angeleno kids.
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Prop → target → kids
We cannot let that happen again,' Raman said.
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Raman → let → ?
Studies of the law's outcome indeed found that English immersion did not increase academic performance for bilingual children.
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immersion → find → children
And since the law was repealed, students receiving bilingual instruction demonstrated higher English proficiency than those who received instruction only in English, UC Berkeley professor of education Lisa Garcia Bedolla told the LA Times.
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Bedolla → repeal → Times
The Administration for Children and Families, a division of HHS, has estimated that the English-only proposal would lead to curriculum changes in one third of Head Start programs across the country.
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proposal → estimate → country
It said that altering classroom materials and replacing or retraining teachers could amount to a one-time cost of up to $124.4 million.
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altering → say → million
But that figure is small when compared to the federal funding received just by California for Head Start.
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figure → compare → Start
The state received $1.5 billion for the program in fiscal year 2024, serving about 84,000 students.
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state → receive → students
That amounts to about $17,850 per student.
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That → amount → student
Beyond making Head Start English-only, broader proposed changes to the program include cost-cutting measures such as lowering the administrative spending cap from 15 percent to five percent and removing staff-to-child ratio mandates.
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changes → make → mandates
The Administration for Children and Families has estimated that the administrative spending cap cut on its own would save about $754 million per year.
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cap → estimate → year
The department estimates that altogether, the proposed changes would save about $2.22 billion per year.
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changes → estimate → year
Head Start currently receives around $12.3 billion annually.
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Start → receive → billion
The Aporia
