Scope and Contents Harvey Owen from the Association for Continuing Adult Education recalls the passage of the adult and bilingual education bills in 1973. Owen credits lobbying efforts such as contacting representatives and testifying before committees as being instrumental towards the passage of legislation. Although the bills did not have unanimous support, they did have a lot. The Johnson administration had set up adult education on a national scale, however with Texas' high educational needs, state funding...

Scope and Contents Lupe Zamarripa, former administrative assistant for Carlos Truan, recalls his public relations work for Truan and the atmosphere around bilingual education at the time. Zamarripa remembers stiff opposition to bilingual education, citing a statue that was on the books at the time forbidding instruction in a language other than English. However, to Truan, bilingual education legislation was a priority to an extent that he would later be referred to as the "father of bilingual education." The...

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This recording is part 2 of 2 of an interview with Joe J. Bernal on April 30 ,1979.

Audio very hard to hear.

Scope and Contents Senator Chet Brooks discusses his support for bilingual education, citing his personal observations of Mexican American children having to drop out of school due to language barriers. Of the opinion that bilingual education is important in early education and can have a major impact on a person later in life, Brooks decided to sponsor a bilingual education act in the Senate in 1973. Brooks admits that although the TEA was supportive of bilingual education at the time, it was perceived as not...

Scope and Contents Representative Matt Garcia discusses the process of trying to pass bilingual education bills HB 147 and SB 121, highlighting specific challenges the bills faced. While being considered by the appropriations committees in the Texas House and Senate, the Senate bill lost its funding. This prompted lobbying attempts by Governor Dolph Briscoe and others to recover the removed appropriations. Additionally, congress members argued the bills solely benefited Mexican Americans rather than the entire...

Scope and Contents Matt Garcia discusses the practice of introducing companion bills in the Senate and House as a more efficient way of passing legislation. He theorizes that Representative Carlos Truan postponed the hearing of his House Bill on bilingual education to wait for the companion bill in the Senate to also be ready for consideration. Garcia also describes the legislative session after the Sharpstown Scandal as being unusually calm. He contrasts the session with the more usual occasions of...

Scope and Contents Richard Hooker, associative executive director of the Texas School Board Association recalls that the association was not comfortable with bilingual education and that the average school board member was not ready yet for such a program's implementation. However, school boards approved bilingual education legislation in its final form. Hooker does not recall TSTA as having a major impact towards bilingual education, stating that they were focusing on a school finance bill at the time. In...

Scope and Contents Carlos Truan recalls his attempts to pass bilingual education legislation in 1969 and 1971 with Joe Bernal. Truan explains that once a bill gets through one chamber of the legislature, the sponsor in the other chamber substitutes that bill for theirs. Thus because Truan's bill in 1969 had passed in the House before Bernal's had in the Senate, Bernal needed to replace Truan's bill for his. Truan also recalls in 1969 that the Texas State Teachers Association had very little part in supporting...

Scope and Contents Truan discusses the coalition formed between the bilingual education and adult education lobbies and how the bills for both types of educational programs were promoted together in the legislature. Truan was able to acquire 77 cosponsors for his bilingual education bill which was permissive. However, Chet Brooks who sponsored bilingual education in the Senate was able to pass a mandatory bill. Carlos credits Bernal being Anglo and his status in the legislature as giving his bill the...

Scope and Contents This recording is part 1 of 3 of a Texas Senate Education Committee hearing held on May 13, 1981. The committee discusses Carlos Truan's bill SB 477 for additional provisions to the bilingual education program in Texas. Truan presents a substitution to his original bill which stipulates that bilingual education would be mandatory for the elementary grades with higher grades up to the eighth grade being optional with state funding. The bill also provides that at least 20 students within a...

Scope and Contents Omar Garza, former board member of the Texas State Board of Education, discusses the board's response to bilingual education legislation. At the time, the state board was very conservative and against bilingual education. Doing very little in terms of changing anything, the board prefers to follow what the legislature tells them to do. Arguments against bilingual education included the sentiments that English must be spoken in America and the question of requirements for teachers. The TSTA...

Scope and Contents Paul Moreno recalls that every person connected to the education of children in Texas was more or less in favor of introducing bilingual education legislation. He also states that politicians in Texas understood the need for such legislation and without their aid the bill would not have passed. However state leadership figures like Gus Mutscher, Preston Smith and Ben Barnes were not in favor of such legislation. Bill Clayton was also against the legislation to the extent that he introduced...

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Jose Vega calls a Dr. Sanchez, and they discuss how Vega and his wife are both finishing their PhD programs soon. Sanchez suggests Vega and his wife to apply for an opening position at New York University.