By Tucson Local Media Staff Apr 15, 2026 Updated Apr 16, 2026
Both Sunrise Drive Elementary School and Ventana Vista Elementary School have been named 2026 A+ Schools of Excellence by the Arizona Educational Foundation. The two Catalina Foothills School District schools are among 48 public schools across the state to earn the designation this year.
Sunrise Drive Elementary School
Under the leadership of Principal Andrea Davidson, Sunrise Drive Elementary School serves approximately 490 students in grades K through 5, with families enrolling from across the Tucson metro area through open enrollment.
I don’t follow the politics in Florida, nor, really, the for-profit private school market. But this is an interesting story about how it’s all playing out in Florida.
For the purposes of this blog, what’s interesting is that the Spring Education Group has 15 Mandarin immersion schools, 14 in northern California and one in southern California, though only a few fit my criteria of Kindergarten through at least fifth grade.
And in case you wondered, the motto translates as “Highest expectations.”
In September 2023, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stunned school choice advocates when he kicked out four private schools from the state’s school voucher program. The schools’ offense, according to the state’s announcement, was their “direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party,” which were seen as “an imminent threat to the health, safety, and welfare of these school’s [sic] students and the public.” The alleged “ties” were not explained in the announcement.
What was surprising about the announcement was that Florida has long been regarded as being “number one in education freedom” by school choice advocates, and its largely unregulated voucher market, along with those of other states, has been described as the “wild west of school voucher expansions.”
A report on the state’s announcement by WFTV explained that the governor’s decision was likely due to the for-profit owner of these schools, Spring Education Group, “controlled by Primavera Holdings Limited,” which is a reference to Primavera Capital, a private equity investment firm based in Hong Kong.
Spring Education Group is one of the largest operators of private schools in the U.S., overseeing more than 200 schools in 19 states. The company’s schools are considered prestigious and include Stratford School, LePort Montessori Schools, Nobel Learning Communities, and BASIS Independent Schools.
The Redwood City School District’s Mandarin Immersion program made a splash on the national scene recently.
The spotlight, however, falls on bilingual education as it continues to contend with long-standing challenges, including funding concerns and a shortage of qualified teachers.
Last month, Principal Winnie Chen of Orion Alternative School – which houses the Mandarin program for transitional kindergartners through fifth-graders – led a well-attended training session at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) annual convention in New Orleans.
“Presenting at a national convention does speak overall to the strength of ideas that are presented in a proposal,” ACTFL Executive Director Larry Paska said in an interview with the Pulse. “We do get thousands of proposals. There are only so many session slots to go around, so it’s exciting to know that someone who has an accepted proposal and is able to come and present does get that feedback reflected back in their community.”
The Fort Bend Independent School district, southwest of Houston, is launching seven new programs “in the 2026-27 school year as a part of its Fort Bend Redesign program aimed at retaining and recruiting students as district growth stabilizes.”
The district has faced declining enrollment in the past decade as newer residential communities reach full built-out and with the growth of charter schools in the area. At the grade school level, the district sees immersion as a way to encourage families to stay within the district.
It’s interesting that the Spanish program they’re launching will start at 80% Spanish and 20% English in Kindergarten, ending at a 50/50 split by third grade. However the Mandarin program will be 70% English and 30% Mandarin for all six years of elementary school.
That’s not a model I’ve seen before, many schools start at 50/50 and stay there. And technically it’s not full immersion. But I’m going to give it to them none the less.
There’s one in at Western Kentucky University, here’s some info. Some of the flagship programs have been discontinued, but this one is going strong. Something to think about as your students start thinking about college.
And if any of you happen to be fluent (or at least conversational) in WordPress, I could really use 15 minutes on the phone to figure out why the links in the left hand sidebar no longer work. message me at immersioneducation (at) gmail (dot) com.
Mandarin Immersion Parents Council 