Massachusetts English Language Education in Public Schools Initiative

The Massachusetts English Language Education in Public Schools Initiative was a successful initiative voted on in the Massachusetts general election held on November 5, 2002.[1] It was one of three 2002 ballot measures put to public vote, and the only one to pass.

The initiative was reportedly financed by Silicon Valley multimillionaire Ron Unz,[2] while it was opposed by the Massachusetts legislature’s Joint Committee on Education, Arts and Humanities.[3]

Voting

Question 2 on the ballot, "English Language Education in Public Schools".[4]

A YES VOTE would require that, with limited exceptions, all public school children must be taught English by being taught all subjects in English and being placed in English language classrooms.[3]

A NO VOTE would make no changes in English language education in public schools.[3]

Response	Votes	%
Yes	1,359,935	61.25%
No	640,525	28.85%
blank	219,841	9.90%

Source: [4]

References

1. Sailer, Steve (November 6, 2002). "Anti-Bilingualism Wins in Massachusetts". UPI. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
2. Tench, Megan (November 3, 2002). "HEATED BATTLE OVER ENGLISH IMMERSION INTENSIFIES". The Boston Globe. p. B.6. Retrieved March 10, 2018 – via pqarchiver.com.
3. "2002 Information For Voters – QUESTION 2: Law Proposed by Initiative Petition". sec.state.ma.us. 2002. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
4. "Statewide Ballot Questions — Statistics by Year: 2002". sec.state.ma.us. Retrieved March 10, 2018.

Further reading

• Pimentel, O. Ricardo (November 16, 2002). "Bilingual-ed issue turns on money". The Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. Retrieved March 10, 2018 – via newspapers.com.