English Second-Language Education: The Florida Consent Decree
Case Summary
In 1989, LULAC brought LULAC v. Florida Board of Education to secure the right to equal education for English-Learner students in Florida public schools. After a year of negotiation, Florida agreed to a Consent Decree which has served as Florida’s framework for offering equal educational opportunity ever since.
“Since the beginning, LULAC has viewed language education and equal educational opportunity as central to its mission,” reflected Asia Clermont, State Director for LULAC Florida. “The Florida Consent Decree has been one of our landmark achievements, promoting justice and opportunity for Latin Americans inside and outside of the classroom.”
LULAC sued Florida after determining that Florida schools were neglecting English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs—neither ensuring that students who did not grow up speaking English in the home had adequate opportunities to learn English, nor ensuring that ESOL students had access to an adequate overall education. Before judgment, LULAC persuaded Florida to agree to a Consent Decree establishing new programs in Florida schools and ensuring continued monitoring of Florida’s performance.
The Consent Decree established a six-part framework for Florida schools to ensure that ESOL students received equal education. Those prongs included:
(I) A program to make sure that Florida identified all students needing ESOL instruction
(II) A guarantee of access to appropriate programing reflecting both the English-language and academic proficiency of each student
(III) A guarantee of access to equal programming
(IV) A plan to train competent English-language teachers
(V) A plan for monitoring the Florida schools and
(VI) A requirement that Florida develop an evaluation system to assess program effectiveness.
Together, these prongs still provide the framework for Florida’s ESOL education. The framework as a whole reflects LULAC’s strong commitment to defending every student’s legal and constitutional right to receive equal education, regardless of whether they grew up speaking English.
Legal Documents
08/14/1990 The Consent Decree