Oregonian Editorial Board Manifests Ignorance of English Language Learning

How disheartening that the editorial board of The Oregonian  manifests fundamental ignorance of the principles of acquiring a second language. This is apparent in its facile, uninformed suggestion:

We'd urge the state to look at the funding side as carefully as the instructional side: Does it make sense to give districts an extra $3,000 per year, per ELL student, in perpetuity? Should there be a five-year time limit on payments? What about $5,000 for the first year, allowing for more intensive and personalized instruction, then tapering to $1,000 a year? ("A new language for Oregon ELL", October 3, 2012)

The cognitive/academic demands on English Language Learners increase as they grow in proficiency. The requirements to use language in ever more sophisticated and nuanced ways demands perhaps more attention to individual student needs than when a student is learning basic communication skills.  Tapering funding makes no sense. 

Oregon's Rumsfelds of Education

Who remembers this exchange between a soldier and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2004?: 

      "Army Spc. Thomas Wilson: 'Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap        

     metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles? And why don't we have those resources  

     readily available to us?'

     Rumsfeld: 'It isn't a matter of money. It isn't a matter on the part of the army of desire. It's a matter of 

     production and capability of doing it. As you know, ah, you go to war with the army you have---not the  

     army you might want or wish to have at a later time.---You can have all the armor in the world on a tank 

     and it can (still) be blown up...'" (http://crooksandliars.com/2006/12/15/remebering-rumsfeld-you-go-to- 

     war-with-the-army-you-have-not-the-army-you-might-want-or-wish-to-have-at-a-later-time)

I think of this exchange whenever I hear or read comments about education by Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction  Rob Saxton, and Chief Education Officer Rudy Crew. These three expect educators to fight a war without providing the educators with the proper equipment. There will be no effective and meaningful educational reform until there is a significant increase in funding for public education.