History and Policy of English Language Programs

2. The State of Florida: Consent Decree and Stipulations to the Consent Decree

1990 Florida Consent Decree. Based on the Civil Rights and ESEA legislation, the Lau (1974) decision, and the Castaneda (1981) decisions the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) filed suit against the state of Florida (1990) for violating the civil rights of Latin American students in its schools.)  The Consent Decree stipulated that all teachers must receive training in working with ESOL students. Elementary majors and secondary English majors in Florida teacher education programs must have 15 credit hours of ESOL training. Practicing elementary and secondary English teachers have the option of obtaining 15 credit hours or 300 professional development hours in ESOL. All other pre-service teachers, including physical education teachers, must have a minimum of three credit hours of ESOL training. Practicing physical education teachers may opt for three credit hours or 18 professional development in-service hours. As linguistic diversity increases in the United States, other states may adopt similar requirements. 

2003 Stipulated Agreement to Consent Decree. LULAC returned to court in 2003, arguing that the State of Florida had not achieved the necessary level of ESOL teacher training to accomplish the goal of academic equality for English Language Learners. On September 10, 2003, the State Board of Education and LULAC, through META representation, signed an agreement, a negotiated modification to the 1990 Consent Decree. The Stipulated Agreement, signed by U.S. District Court Judge Federico Moreno, is currently active in all of Florida's school districts. The Stipulated Agreement does not diminish any options for ESOL endorsement or coverage outlined in the 1990 Consent Decree. It does, however, expand some of the original provisions.

First, it provides an additional option through which a certified teacher may obtain ESOLcoverage.

Second, the amendment requires training, including post-certification hours, for all persons holding administrative and guidance counselor positions (60 hours).

Third, the new 2003 amendment allows the plaintiffs to secure access to the ESOL teacher test and provide input that becomes part of the test’s design.

(see Policy Brief 2004) pp. 5.5 et al for details of  1) Identification and Assessment 2) Equal access to appropriate programming, 3) Equal access to appropriate categorical and other programs for ELLs, 4) Personnel (see below), 5) Monitoring issues and 6) Outcome Measures.