Bill Mandates Youngsters Learn Spanish
TALLAHASSEE - -- All Florida students in kindergarten through second grade would get mandatory Spanish lessons starting in 2007 under a new bill filed by state Sen. Les Miller, D-Tampa.

"More and more of our young people need to learn a second language," said Miller, the Senate minority leader. "We just thought that this was a good start for these young people."

Some people like the idea but wonder about its practicality.

Younger students "learn a foreign language without pain," said Dorothy Carregal, superintendent of foreign languages for Hillsborough schools.

But the legislation, Senate Bill 522, doesn't say how schools would pay for the classes, other than to allow using state and private funds and grants.

If Miller's legislation becomes a mandate for schools, Carregal said it would create funding and personnel problems.

"And even if they give us the money, finding the teachers would be very difficult," she said.

In 1999, the Hillsborough County School Board found that 82 percent of parents were interested in elementary students learning conversational Spanish in class. But the board also found that twice-weekly classes for students in kindergarten through fifth grade could cost as much as $4.3 million in the first year.

A lack of funding helped kill the idea of offering the instruction system wide, but Carregal said Hillsborough has five full-time certified Spanish teachers teaching kindergarten through fifth grade, at four schools.

Miller said he has not talked to other politicians or educators, but "if we have to negotiate some things, we will."

He is seeking the 11th U.S. congressional seat vacated by Rep. Jim Davis, a Tampa Democrat who is running for governor.

Maria Coady, an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Florida, said even though the state has a great resource of Spanish-speaking people, not enough have been encouraged to go into teaching.

The Florida Department of Education hasn't seen the bill or reviewed funding issues, a representative said.