[etni] Ministry: Cities must fund separate English classes

Ministry: Cities must fund separate English classes
Haaretz - June 15, 2007
Classes for native English speakers can continue next year, provided they are paid for by municipalities and not by individual parents, the Education Ministry has ruled.
The decision essentially means that the classes are legal on a pedagogic level, but that to ensure their continuation, the municipalities must be willing to underwrite the program.
"Currently, splitting classes according to English proficiency is at the school's discretion. The Education Ministry does not intervene in this consideration and schools are entitled to conduct separate classes for English speakers," according to a ministry letter, a copy of which was obtained by Anglo File. "The Education Ministry does not prohibit separate classes according to English proficiency, as long as schools do this with resources allocated from state or local authority budgets and not from the funds the municipality collected from the parents whose children participate in the program."
The decision came in response to a letter sent earlier this week to the ministry by attorneys Lisa Segelov and Nicole Maor, both of whom have children enrolled in the native speakers program in the Sharon region. Written on behalf of some 100 parents, the letter calls on the ministry to provide a written explanation detailing what they plan to do with the English-speaking students for the coming school year. It also demands that the ministry leave the current program untouched until a suitable alternative is found.
Segelov and Maor originally said that they would file a High Court petition against the ministry if they did not receive a prompt response. The ministry decision, which came three days after the lawyers' letter was sent, also ruled that if the program continues to be parent-funded, the classes will be legal only as an after-school program and not within regular classroom hours.
"Until now, there have only been rumors about the ministry decision," Segelov said in response to the ruling. "Now we've established in black and white that the program is legal. The next step is for parents to take it up with their individual municipalities. People need to band together in every city, be active and make noise." 

(To read the whole article, go to -
http://www.etni.org/news/funding_classes.htm  )


-----------------------------------------------
** Etni homepage - www.etni.org **
** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx **
** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **
-----------------------------------------------

Other related posts: