Post by Okwes on Jun 10, 2008 9:51:59 GMT -5
Doyle backs program to save native languages
www.onalaskalife.com/articles/2008/06/08/thisjustin/06nativelangu\
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<http://www.onalaskalife.com/articles/2008/06/08/thisjustin/06nativelang\
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.Gov. Jim Doyle said he supports bringing back a state program to help
Wisconsin tribes preserve their endangered native languages.
The Democratic governor said last week through aides that he's willing
to include money for the program in his next budget -- as he has
unsuccessfully in the past -- if state tribes request the funding.
Tribal leaders responded that they strongly backed such a move, which
would still be subject to approval by the Legislature.
"Interactive"
"The tribes themselves work hard at this and I applaud them for that,
but I do think that it's part of who we are in Wisconsin and that's why
I support it," Doyle said last month of the state's role in language
preservation efforts.
A three-day series in the Wisconsin State Journal last week found that
only about one-half of 1 percent of state tribal members -- about 300
aging men and women -- are native speakers of the state's five Indian
languages. Several state tribes are down to a handful of elderly native
speakers.
Most tribes already have language programs of their own, but the
resources individual tribes devote to saving their language can vary
from more than 30 employees to a single worker. The difference depends
partly on a tribe's priorities but also on whether the tribe has a
profitable casino or can win competitive outside grants.
'Time not our friend'
Lisa Waukau, chairwoman of the Menominee tribe, praised the idea of
bringing back the state program, saying it could help tribes like hers
that have few resources for preservation efforts. The Menominee, whose
language is spoken nowhere else in the world, have 10 to 20 native
speakers left.
"This is definitely something that we would like to be able to do again
because time is not our friend here," Waukau said. "If we lose the
language, it's not just going to be us that's going to be poorer for it;
it's going to be the whole state. "
In 2003, the then Republican-controlled Legislature cut $220,000 a year
that had been going to pay for tribal language and culture programs.
That cut eliminated a program, dating to 1980, that helped fund language
and culture classes at five schools for tribal students in Wisconsin.
The program used money from tribal casino payments made to the state, an
arrangement Doyle favors.
In his 2003 and 2005 budget bills, Doyle proposed $260,000 a year to
continue the program, but both times the money was taken out by the
Republican-controlled Legislature. Doyle didn't include the program in
his most recent budget proposal last year, which came after Democrats
won control of the state Senate in 2006.
State schools Superintendent Libby Burmaster has already said she will
seek to restore money for native language and culture programs in the
budget request she will send to Doyle on Sept. 15. Doyle and Burmaster
haven't said if they would propose a program similar to the one that was
cut or use a different model.
Lawmaker reaction to the possibility of reviving the program was mixed.
Rep. Terry Musser, R-Black River Falls, praised Doyle, saying the
governor's support would give the proposal a good chance of passing a
split Legislature.
"If he puts something like that in the budget, it's really beneficial,"
said Musser, chairman of the Legislative Council's state-tribal
relations committee.
A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said
the state's recent budget woes make even modest amounts like an added
$260,000 a year tough to find. Fitzgerald was one of the Republicans on
the Legislature's budget committee who voted in 2003 to kill the
program, as part of a much larger motion, on a party-line 12-4 vote.
"Anytime you want to spend money on a new program, it's going to be
difficult," spokesman John Murray said.
Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, who voted against cutting
the program in 2003, would support reinstating it, spokeswoman Carrie
Lynch said. Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, voted in 2003
to cut the program but would keep an "open mind " about bringing it
back, Murray said.
Oneida tribal spokeswoman Bobbi Webster said the tribe would "absolutely
" support bringing back the program. Brian Bisonette, the
secretary-treasurer of the Lac Courte Oreilles tribal governing board,
also supported the idea, saying his tribe's Ojibwe language is "vital
for the survival of people. "
Spokesman Ken Walsh said the Forest County Potawatomi tribe would
support Doyle "in doing that and then lobby for it once it got to the
Legislature. "
Researcher William Demmert said the state should use any new program to
help tribes start preschools and schools that teach young tribal
children almost entirely in their traditional languages. These schools
can then gradually add grades for older students, said Demmert, an
education professor at Western Washington University in Bellingham,
Wash., and a former director of education for the Federal Bureau of
Indian Affairs.
In Wisconsin, these so-called "immersion " efforts for the very young --
the best language learners -- have been started only for the Ojibwe and
Ho-Chunk languages. .
www.onalaskalife.com/articles/2008/06/08/thisjustin/06nativelangu\
ages.txt
<http://www.onalaskalife.com/articles/2008/06/08/thisjustin/06nativelang\
uages.txt>
.Gov. Jim Doyle said he supports bringing back a state program to help
Wisconsin tribes preserve their endangered native languages.
The Democratic governor said last week through aides that he's willing
to include money for the program in his next budget -- as he has
unsuccessfully in the past -- if state tribes request the funding.
Tribal leaders responded that they strongly backed such a move, which
would still be subject to approval by the Legislature.
"Interactive"
"The tribes themselves work hard at this and I applaud them for that,
but I do think that it's part of who we are in Wisconsin and that's why
I support it," Doyle said last month of the state's role in language
preservation efforts.
A three-day series in the Wisconsin State Journal last week found that
only about one-half of 1 percent of state tribal members -- about 300
aging men and women -- are native speakers of the state's five Indian
languages. Several state tribes are down to a handful of elderly native
speakers.
Most tribes already have language programs of their own, but the
resources individual tribes devote to saving their language can vary
from more than 30 employees to a single worker. The difference depends
partly on a tribe's priorities but also on whether the tribe has a
profitable casino or can win competitive outside grants.
'Time not our friend'
Lisa Waukau, chairwoman of the Menominee tribe, praised the idea of
bringing back the state program, saying it could help tribes like hers
that have few resources for preservation efforts. The Menominee, whose
language is spoken nowhere else in the world, have 10 to 20 native
speakers left.
"This is definitely something that we would like to be able to do again
because time is not our friend here," Waukau said. "If we lose the
language, it's not just going to be us that's going to be poorer for it;
it's going to be the whole state. "
In 2003, the then Republican-controlled Legislature cut $220,000 a year
that had been going to pay for tribal language and culture programs.
That cut eliminated a program, dating to 1980, that helped fund language
and culture classes at five schools for tribal students in Wisconsin.
The program used money from tribal casino payments made to the state, an
arrangement Doyle favors.
In his 2003 and 2005 budget bills, Doyle proposed $260,000 a year to
continue the program, but both times the money was taken out by the
Republican-controlled Legislature. Doyle didn't include the program in
his most recent budget proposal last year, which came after Democrats
won control of the state Senate in 2006.
State schools Superintendent Libby Burmaster has already said she will
seek to restore money for native language and culture programs in the
budget request she will send to Doyle on Sept. 15. Doyle and Burmaster
haven't said if they would propose a program similar to the one that was
cut or use a different model.
Lawmaker reaction to the possibility of reviving the program was mixed.
Rep. Terry Musser, R-Black River Falls, praised Doyle, saying the
governor's support would give the proposal a good chance of passing a
split Legislature.
"If he puts something like that in the budget, it's really beneficial,"
said Musser, chairman of the Legislative Council's state-tribal
relations committee.
A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said
the state's recent budget woes make even modest amounts like an added
$260,000 a year tough to find. Fitzgerald was one of the Republicans on
the Legislature's budget committee who voted in 2003 to kill the
program, as part of a much larger motion, on a party-line 12-4 vote.
"Anytime you want to spend money on a new program, it's going to be
difficult," spokesman John Murray said.
Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, who voted against cutting
the program in 2003, would support reinstating it, spokeswoman Carrie
Lynch said. Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, voted in 2003
to cut the program but would keep an "open mind " about bringing it
back, Murray said.
Oneida tribal spokeswoman Bobbi Webster said the tribe would "absolutely
" support bringing back the program. Brian Bisonette, the
secretary-treasurer of the Lac Courte Oreilles tribal governing board,
also supported the idea, saying his tribe's Ojibwe language is "vital
for the survival of people. "
Spokesman Ken Walsh said the Forest County Potawatomi tribe would
support Doyle "in doing that and then lobby for it once it got to the
Legislature. "
Researcher William Demmert said the state should use any new program to
help tribes start preschools and schools that teach young tribal
children almost entirely in their traditional languages. These schools
can then gradually add grades for older students, said Demmert, an
education professor at Western Washington University in Bellingham,
Wash., and a former director of education for the Federal Bureau of
Indian Affairs.
In Wisconsin, these so-called "immersion " efforts for the very young --
the best language learners -- have been started only for the Ojibwe and
Ho-Chunk languages. .