PRESS RELEASE
California Assemblyman Dario Frommer
CONTACT: Karen S. Kim
(916) 319-2043
April 28, 2006

FROMMER’S BILL TO OFFER ARMENIAN CREDENTIAL FOR TEACHERS PASSES
ASSEMBLY EDUCATION COMMITTEE

(SACRAMENTO, CA) – The Assembly Education Committee late Wednesday
passed legislation by Assembly Majority Leader Dario Frommer
(D-Glendale) that would expand the single subject foreign language
California Subject Examination for Teachers to include the Armenian
language.

`Our state boasts the largest Armenian population outside of
Armenia, and yet we have no program available for teachers who want to
be credentialed in the Armenian language,’ Frommer said. `This bill
will not only better equip teachers in districts with large Armenian
populations, it will also allow all interested students to study the
Armenian language in elementary and high schools.’

Of the 1,064,578 English learners enrolled in California, 12,786
students said Armenian was their native language. In Frommer’s own
district, the Glendale Unified School District reported that it had
3,904 English language learners who speak Armenian primarily, making
up 49% of the districts total English language learner population. In
Los Angeles, there are 3,824 English language learners whose primary
language is Armenian.

Assembly Bill 2913’s expansion of the CSET’s single subject teaching
credential to include the Armenian language will permit high schools,
colleges and universities to offer the Armenian language as a course
in the curriculum and will guarantee that those courses will be taught
by teachers credentialed in Armenian. The first Armenian CSET must be
administered by September 1, 2009, according to the bill.

Frommer introduced the bill upon the request of constituent Saro
Nazarian. Groups supporting the bill include: the Armenian Assembly of
America, Armenian American Chamber of Commerce, Board of Regents of
Prelacy Armenian Schools, Glendale Community College and Glendale
Unified School District.

###