Abstract

In 1989, Florida became the target of a major class-action lawsuit on behalf of limited English proficient children in the public school system. The State elected to negotiate a settlement rather than to litigate. The result was a Final Order, LULAC v. FBOE, No. 90-1913 (S.D. Fla. Aug. 14, 1990), and a settlement agreement—the Florida ESOL Consent Decree. This extensive Decree is divided into six sections: Identification and Assessment; Equal Access to Programming; Equal Access to Appropriate Categorical and Other Programming for LEP Students; Personnel; Monitoring; and Outcome Measures. In addition to the fiscal impact that sections I, II, III, V, and VI have on the overall administration of the 67 school districts (plus five specialty schools) in Florida, section IV requires that any public school teacher who is assigned an LEP student and is primarily responsible for that student's English language instruction must undergo appropriate ESOL training and receive the 15 semester hour ESOL Endorsement to his/her teaching certificate within a specific time period.

Despite the sweeping impact of the Florida ESOL Consent Decree, it is not well understood by either the majority of the impacted parties or the ESOL academics in the State. This dissertation attempts to provide a clear description/analysis of the conditions and negotiations that led to the generation of the ESOL Consent Decree and its subsequent evolution. It reviews the relevant case law and federal legislation, describes the development/operationalization/implementation of the Florida ESOL Consent Decree, and compares the Florida ESOL Consent Decree to an equally sweeping Pennsylvania education consent decree that resulted from PARC v. Pennsylvania, 343 F. Supp. 279 (E.D. Pa. 1972). The researcher operates within a “pragmatic naturalistic paradigm” (Patton, 1990) and uses document review, historical analysis and interviews to develop a “thick description” of the ESOL Consent Decree. She then subjects both LULAC and PARC to analysis via the Combined Judicial Activism Analysis Framework (Rebell and Block, 1982; and Jensen, 1984). The researcher closes with observations regarding the development of consent agreements/reform decrees and suggestions for particular areas that should be carefully scrutinized by those involved in similar legal actions.