The Newport School Committee has approved a resolution supporting the Support and Access to Bilingual Education (SABE) Act, joining a growing list of Rhode Island communities backing the legislation now under consideration in the General Assembly.
The committee voted in support of the bill at its March 10 meeting. The legislation, filed as SB2555 and HB7389, would create a Bilingual Education Support Fund within the Rhode Island Department of Education to expand bilingual and dual language programs and support the development of bilingual educators statewide.
The vote comes as Newport’s multilingual learner population has grown by 327% between 2013 and 2023, according to the Rhode Island Department of Education.
“One of the top concerns we hear from families in our Latino Parent Advisory Council is that in the process of learning English, children are losing their mother tongue,” Rebekah Gomez, co-founder and executive director of Conexión Latina Newport, said in a press release. “By passing this resolution, the School Committee is showing they hear those concerns and understand the value of dual language education.”
Esther María Alarcón Arana, an associate professor of Spanish at Salve Regina University and parent of a Pell Elementary second grader, said in the same release that bilingual learning strengthens students academically. “When students learn two languages together, they grow stronger mentally and develop stronger critical thinking skills,” she said.
In a statement, the Coalition for a Multilingual Rhode Island said expanding bilingual education “helps students succeed academically while preparing them to thrive in a diverse and global economy.”
Dual language programs teach academic content through two languages, with at least 50% of the school day in a non-English partner language such as Spanish, with the goal of producing students who are bilingual, biliterate and academically proficient.
The SABE Act is currently pending in the General Assembly.