Calls to Action
IFLTA 2025 Legislative Priorities
To View the 2025 Legislative Priorities from the IFLTA Advocacy Team click HERE
Write your legislatures
Legislators need to hear if something is important to you! Please send both your Senator and your Representative your thoughts on the Bills Below. Feel free to copy/paste what we wrote, adjust it as you feel inclined, or write your own on the topic given.
HB 1002
Dear Senator / Representative XXX,
I am a world language teacher in Indiana, and am writing you today to express my concern on HB 1002, specifically the elimination of the Certificate of Multilingual Proficiency (CoMP). The English Language population in Indiana has grown by 66% in the recent few years, with students from various language backgrounds entering our school systems. The CoMP is an excellent tool to show these students that their knowledge of other languages is not a deficit, but an asset in the 21st Century workforce. Native English students can also access the CoMP by studying another language in our many World Language courses offered around the state. In 2023, 964 students earned their CoMP across 18 languages. The totals for 2024 are still being tabulated, but every year between 800 and 1,000 students earn this certificate, showing potential higher educational institutions, employers, and military that they can not only speak two or more languages, including English, but can read and write in them as well. This skill is vital to Indiana's economic futures, as well as our state and national security. Therefore, I urge you to take the Certificate of Multilingual Proficiency out of HB 1002, or completely vote it down altogether.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Write the Governor Elect to congratulate him on his win
While he was in the US Congress, Senator Braun was the first Republican Senator to join the America's Languages Caucus and he was the most active Senator in the Caucus. He has had someone from the IFLTA Advocacy team in his office every year and he is very interested in languages, especially from an economic standpoint. Please help IFLTA gain some ground and write to Governor Elect Braun on his win. You can reference IFLTA's letter HERE
State level initiatives
Funding for the DLI Schools
To whom it may concern:
I am a world language educator in Indiana and I am writing you today to urge you to reallocate $500,000 in the biennium budget for the Dual Language Immersion grant program.
Since its inception in 2015, the DLI schools across our state have grown from 4 to 42 schools, and every year schools continue to see the value in a program like this. Students who learn languages earlier in life show marked improvement in cognitive abilities, communication skills and cultural awareness in comparison to their monolingual counterparts. The students that come out of these schools with these 21st Century Skills will help the economy and security of Indiana in the future.
The Indiana General Assembly has always allocated money to this competitive grant and we urge you to consider doing so again this budget cycle. Therefore, please renew the funding for our Dual Language Immersion Grant Program at $500,000.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
High School Redesign
To whom it may concern:
As a world language educator in Indiana, I am writing you to express my continued interest in the High School Redesign. As Indiana tries to focus on the post-secondary goals of its students, focusing on Employment, Enlistment, and Enrollment, I ask that you consider what these three areas ask for in their applicants. World language education is vital to our economy, national security, and the wellbeing of our students.
According to studies done by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the Indiana Language Roadmap (ILR) 9 out of 10 American based companies rely on multilingual employees. Most of the colleges and universities in Indiana and around the nation require students to have at least 2 years of instruction before they will accept them into their colleges. The military pays $100-$500 more per month for members who speak 2 languages, and up to $1000 more per month for those who speak 3 or more. The Department of Defense spends $15 million annually in federal grants to implement or improve world language programs throughout their DOD schools or those with JROTC programs.
For these reasons and more, I implore you to add the following components to the new high school diploma redesign: add international language experiences and honors societies as well as specific coursework outlined by IFLTA to the demonstration of Communication, Collaboration and Work Ethic, and add the Certificate of Multilingual Proficiency as a Credential of Value.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
World Language Specialist at the IDOE
Email the governor's office HERE
To whom it may concern:
I am a language teacher in the state and I am writing you today to re-create a specialist position in World Language Education. This position was at the IDOE until 2017 when the positions was consolidated into the Office of English Language Leaners. While the individuals in that office worked hard to help us where they could, world language education is not their area of expertise.
Many states around Indiana have world language specialists at their respective DOEs, and the fact that Indiana does not means that we are falling behind other states in regards to this critical 21st Century Skill. A specialist in this position could help teachers with vital Professional Development opportunities, as well as assist our Dual Language Immersion schools as they begin to transition from K-8 to secondary education. This specialist could facilitate the rewriting of the State Standards as well as ensuring that the State Class Codes and Descriptions are culturally respectful (currently some are insensitive).
A specialist at this level could work as a liaison not only with the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association (IFLTA) but also be an official representative to the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL), as well as with our visiting teachers from other countries, and the State Board of Education on graduation requirements. They could assist schools to recruit and retain teachers directly from our multilingual population, thereby diversifying the teacher population. They could work with the licensing board to help create licenses for teachers of the Less Commonly Taught Languages to facilitate the teaching of the more than 300 languages currently spoken in Indiana schools, but not currently taught in Indiana schools.
The prospects for what the position could do are limitless. However, without it programs struggle to stay competitive with their counterparts in other states. To continue to be a leader in the field of education, we need a position at the IDOE for a World Language Specialist urgently.
Thank you for your time,
Sincerely,
National Level Initiatives
FY25 Budget
Fill out JNCL-NCLIS's call to action on the proposed cuts to Title I funding as well as the complete elimination of Title II and Title III
