Contact: Colleen Roche/Samantha I. Lugo (212) 788-2958
"New York City is the gateway for thousands of immigrants each year, and it's important that bilingual education is used as an appropriate transition to English. It's essential that we do everything possible to give people the chance to succeed," Mayor Giuliani said. "English is the language of business in the United States and the world today. We must make sure that every child learns English as effectively as possible.
"The task force will make recommendations to the Mayor and the Board of Education for the reform of bilingual education with the goal of returning to the original intent of these programs - ease the transition to English, but ultimately to make all students fluent in English," the Mayor added. "We have an obligation to give students a better chance to succeed and bilingual education reform provides us with an opportunity to do just that. We had tremendous success with the reforms recommended by the Mayor's Task Force on Special Education and implemented by the Board of Education. The Mayor's Task Force on Bilingual Education can do the same for our bilingual students. I thank the members for their commitment and dedication to improve the education of all of our children."
Based on the example of the Mayor's Special Education Task Force, the bilingual task force will seek advice and membership from experts who are directly and personally involved in bilingual education.
During the 1997-98 school year, there were over 80,000 students receiving bilingual classes in New York City.