Tom Tancredo said "Colorado doesn't need 5,000 more illiterate peasants." Well, neither does Escondido!

Yesterday, I drove by Lincoln Elementary School at 1029 N. Broadway, and became so enraged when I saw the sign out in front of the school, I went home and emailed the school board members who allow it.

Joan Gardner, Royce Moor, Zoe Carpenter and Marv Gilbert all received the following email:

I drove by Lincoln School today and was appalled to see the signs out in front were in Spanish. I don't care how many parents are Hispanic, the signs should be in English. This is America and we speak English here.

Elisa Fregoso is the principal and according to education.com, the school failed to meet state yearly progress requirements in terms of student performance (under "No Child Left Behind").

A school's academic performance index is a scale that ranges from 200-1000 and is calculated on the school's performance in the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program.

The state has set 800 as the API target for all schools. Lincoln's API score was 692 in 2009.

Eighty-nine percent out of the 573 students who attend Lincoln school are Hispanic, and 96 percent of them participate in the free or reduced-price lunch program.

In 2008, 81 percent of the students at Lincoln School were categorized as English Learners.

Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch? All you have to be is a Hispanic underachiever in Escondido and you're on your way!