California voters have reversed a long-time ban on bilingual education in the state, rolling back a law passed 18 years ago that required "English-only" instruction for all students, including those who aren't native speakers of the language.

The Associated Press reported that voters overwhelmingly favored the ballot measure—with more than 72 percent of voters supporting it.

Tuesday's passage of Proposition 58 means that the state's public schools are now free of any restrictions on using various forms of bilingual education, most notably for teaching the state's 1.5 million English-language learners.

The ballot measure essentially repeals Proposition 227, the 1998 law that made it tougher for districts to offer bilingual education; only students whose parents signed a waiver to "opt in" had access to dual language classes.

Read full article here