California IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : More Non-English Speakers in Schools

The number of students in California’s public schools who speak only limited English doubled during the 1980s, and Spanish is the native tongue of three out of four of them, the state Department of Education said. An end-of-the-decade survey showed that Spanish is the most common language among three out of four students with limited English proficiency. Students whose primary language is Spanish accounted for 74% of all non-English proficient students. Spanish topped the list of the 12 fastest growing non-English languages in the public schools from 1985 to 1989, but Armenian speakers grew at the highest rate--179.1%, compared to 45.5% for Spanish-speakers. “There are twice as many limited-English-speaking students today as in 1981 and they represent one out of every six students in public schools,” state schools Supt. Bill Honig said.