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LOS ANGELES, July 31 -- torneys representing children with limited English abilities filed
a last-ditch lawsuit Thursday in federal court seeking to halt Los Angeles schools from
putting the anti-bilingual education Proposition 227 into effect next week. The suit brought
by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund contends that the Los Angeles
Unified School District is not prepared--by its own admission--to teach children through
the method known as English immersion. The lawsuit puts the district in the awkward
position of defending its plan to push ahead with Proposition 227, only weeks after it had
fought in court to delay or halt the initiative. The district plans to argue in a hearing
scheduled this afternoon in Los Angeles before U.S. District Judge Lourdes Gillespie Baird
that its schools have worked hard to get ready for a legally required transition Monday, when
47 year-round schools begin a new term. (Los Angeles Times)
SAN FRANCISCO, July 31 -- The voters who approved Proposition 227 assumed that by fall,
California's schoolchildren would be hearing nothing but English in their classrooms. But in
many Bay Area school districts, bilingual education lives. Educators say most children will
find bilingual classes waiting for them when they go back to school, but with one difference:
an extra layer of bureaucracy needed to make it all legal under Proposition 227. California's
system of bilingual education is supposed to die Sunday, under the new law approved by
voters in June and upheld by a federal judge earlier this month. In its place is supposed to be
a single year of English instruction, intended by the proposition's authors to transform 1.4
million immigrant children from tentative foreigners into English-speaking Americans.
Though thousands of students may choose that kind of instruction, thousands may not -- and
will not have to, say educators in several Bay Area districts. (San Francisco Chronicle)
SAN FRANCISCO, July 29 -- A little-known aspect of state law may allow school districts to
set up alternative schools for children with limited English skills, circumventing a
sweeping bilingual education ban approved by voters last month. Two requests for such
schools are before state Superintendent Delaine Eastin, who has the authority to waive the
ban and most other state education laws on a case-by-case basis for "alternative" and
"magnet" schools. "We are ready to move into the next stage, the decision-making stage. The
precedent is about to be set," Lynn Hartzler, an Education Department official who has
examined the requests, said Tuesday. (New York Times)
LOS ANGELES, July 29 -- Businessman Ron K. Unz and his allies had at least two goals in
mind last year when they drafted Proposition 227: to end bilingual education in California,
and to ensure that the initiative would withstand a court challenge if it won voter approval.
Those diverging aims produced a law with some internal conflicts. There is no mistaking the
sweeping mandate--"all children in California public schools shall be taught English by
being taught in English." Just as apparent are several loopholes and points of flexibility
hedging that mandate. Following are questions and answers about the regulations and the
initiative based on interviews with educators, legal experts and partisans on both sides. (Los
Angeles Times)
LOS ANGELES, July 28 -- California's 154 experimental charter schools are exempt from
the provisions of Proposition 227 and remain free to continue bilingual education programs
without sanctions, state education officials said Monday. The state's interpretation of the
successful initiative was prompted by a San Fernando Valley charter school where the
principal ordered that several hundred Spanish-speaking students be taught in Spanish for
the new semester that starts this week. California charter schools are exempt from
virtually all state education codes as part of a legislative effort to foster innovation. Based on
their reading of state education code and the new law, attorneys for the state Department of
Education said the campuses also are exempt from Proposition 227, which requires public
schools to replace bilingual education programs with English immersion. "A charter school
needs only comply with all of the provisions set forth in its charter petition, but is
otherwise exempt from the laws governing school districts," said Allan Keown, deputy
general counsel for the state Department of Education. Proposition 227 author Ron Unz said
he would not challenge the state's decision, largely because it covers so few campuses. (Los
Angeles Times)
FRESNO, Calif. July 27 -- In June, California voters passed a controversial English-only
initiative and set school districts on a rocky, winding path without a road map. Now, it's just
a week before the Aug. 2 deadline to have English-only programs in place. Ask local districts
how much it will cost or what their plans are, and most say they're just waiting. Ask
parents with children in bilingual programs, and many will say they're worried. "I can't
imagine that the state is going to hold us responsible to the letter of the law from day one
because it's so fluid," said Jan Baird, coordinator of state and federal programs for Central
Unified School District. "There's so much room for interpretation, so many terms that are
so indefinite." The initiative, passed by 61% of voters, said non-English-speaking children
under 10 must be taught "overwhelmingly" in English until they have a good working
knowledge of the language. But the initiative did not define what that means, and the state
won't release its guidelines for another three to four months. (Fresno Bee)
MODESTO, Calif. July 27 -- Catarino Garza doesn't expect bilingual education classes to go
topsy-turvy next month, when Proposition 227 officially becomes law. He doesn't expect
parents to slap a lawsuit on him if he speaks a language other than English to his third
graders at Tuolumne School in Modesto. Still, the longtime bilingual education teacher is
anxious about how the inevitable changes will affect students at Tuolumne, where more than
half speak other languages. (Modesto Bee)
LOS ANGELES, July 25 -- Weeks after voters overwhelmingly approved proposition 227, a
behind-the scenes battle is raging over the fine print of the anti-bilingual education
initiative and the rules that will put it into effect early next month. At stake in the dispute is
how many bilingual education programs will survive in california's public school system,
and what form they could take, despite the goal of the pro-initiative campaign to wipe them
out. Supporters of Proposition 227 charge that emergency regulations filed this week in
Sacramento and new implementation plans in the Los Angeles Unified School District and
elsewhere are watering down - in some cases, violating - the new law's broad mandate to
teach children English by teaching them in English. Educators - most of whom opposed
Proposition 227 before it was approved on June 2 - respond that they are simply trying to
comply with a vaguely worded law in a way that guarantees parent rights and preserves
"flexibility." (Los Angeles Times)
SAN FRANCISCO, July 24 -- Supporters of bilingual education have asked a federal appeals
court to block Proposition 227, the initiative requiring all students to be taught in English.
Organizations representing students in bilingual classes and their parents filed an appeal
Thursday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging a federal judge's decision
last week that allows Proposition 227 to take effect this fall. (CBS News)
LOS ANGELES, July 24 -- Jose Delgadillo's mind was reeling with questions and concerns
when he emerged Thursday from an emotional four-hour meeting with school officials that
was supposed to help educators implement California's new anti-bilingual initiative. He
wasn't alone. Some 350 principals and teachers gathered in the Golden Ballroom of the Omni
Hotel and bombarded Los Angeles Unified School District officials with pointed questions, but
received few clear answers that they could take back to their classrooms. (Los Angeles
Times)
LOS ANGELES, July 22 -- Even now, with the deadline to end bilingual education for
California schoolchildren looming, the adults in charge of dismantling the programs continue
to fight over language. Opponents of bilingual education insist that 60 days is enough time to
rewrite education history. Besides, they add, the law is the law. But the people who back
bilingual education call the timetable impossible, and argue that the voter referendum
known as Proposition 227 is irresponsible anyway. The result is confusion in most school
districts and open defiance in others, with two of the largest saying they may refuse to
comply and the largest - Los Angeles - agreeing to go halfway at best. While Proposition
227 allows parents to sue teachers who refuse to teach in English, state educators concede
they may have no way of knowing which classrooms are emphasizing English and which are
not. ''In truth, schools are going to have extraordinary flexibility,'' said Sonia Hernandez,
deputy superintendent for curriculum and instruction at the state Department of Education.
''If some teacher refuses to comply and closes their classroom door, it's going to be almost
impossible to know. ... The truth of the matter is we can't be the Prop 227 police.'' (Boston
Globe)
LOS ANGELES, July 22 -- Amid predictions of chaos throughout the 661-campus Los
Angeles Unified School District, the Board of Education indicated Tuesday that it will adopt a
hastily prepared plan for dismantling bilingual programs starting Aug. 3. Los Angeles
district officials estimated that it could cost an additional $40 million over the next four
years to implement the proposal. "It's not going to be easy," said district Supt. Ruben
Zacarias, who drafted the proposal. "It's going to be a bumpy ride for the first year. Among
other options, his plan offers parents a choice of enrolling students in English-intensive
classrooms but allowing them extra help in their native languages. (Los Angeles Times)
LOS ANGELES, July 22 -- In many public schools in Los Angeles County and other urban
areas of California, select groups of bilingual students outscored their "English only" peers
on this year's state tests of reading and math. Some of the better scores in these school
districts were turned in by two types of students: those who entered their school systems
already fluent in English, even though it was not their native language, and those who became
fluent while in school, advancing from the ranks of the "limited English proficient." (Los
Angeles Times)
LOS ANGELES, July 21 -- From pledges of open defiance to scattered examples of quiet
enthusiasm, school districts statewide have begun laying plans to respond to Proposition
227, the state's anti-bilingual education initiative. Today, Los Angeles Unified School
District officials plan to formally unveil a strategy that seeks a middle ground for teaching
limited-English students: Put most of them into English-intensive classrooms, but allow
help in their native language if they need it. The plan will cost the district almost $1 million
next year, officials estimate, mostly to retrain teachers for English-immersion classes. At
least two other major districts are taking a far more combative stance on the initiative,
which voters approved overwhelmingly last month. The Oakland and San Francisco school
districts, for example, have pledged an all-out fight to preserve bilingual education. (Los
Angeles Times)
SACRAMENTO, July 21 -- If opponents of California's old system of bilingual education
worried that a hodgepodge of programs, many of them failures, was doing a disservice to
immigrant children, they shouldn't relax: Proposition 227 is not likely to bring
improvement any time soon. Now that a federal judge has declared the initiative
constitutional, schools must scramble to invent the "sheltered English immersion" classes
they must now substitute for whatever programs, including bilingual instruction, they had
in place for students with limited English skills. Early reactions from school officials
around the state suggest those programs will vary wildly, if they are implemented at all.
(Sacramento Bee)
LOS ANGELES, July 17 -- Even as it promised to appeal a federal judge's refusal to block
implementation of Proposition 227, a leading Latino rights organization announced plans for
a statewide campaign to encourage thousands of parents to seek special permits to continue
bilingual education. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund is seizing on a
provision of the anti-bilingual initiative that allows parents to seek waivers for their
children from English immersion classes. If a school receives 20 applications in any grade,
it must provide a bilingual class or transport the students to another school that can
accommodate their needs. "I hope to see waivermania in California," Theresa Bustillos,
MALDEF's vice president of legal programs, said at a news conference. "You can bring Prop.
227 to a standstill if enough parents apply for waivers and districts grant them." (Los
Angeles Times)
SAN FRANCISCO, July 16 -- San Francisco schools will continue to provide bilingual
education, despite a federal judge's decision not to block implementation of voter-approved
Proposition 227. The decision Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Charles A. Legge to allow the
measure to take effect means that unless a higher court intervenes, Prop. 227 will take
legal effect next month and require major changes in the instruction of the state's 1.4
million limited-English-speaking students in the upcoming school year. As of Aug. 2, school
districts around the state will be forbidden to teach in any language but English. But San
Francisco schools chief Bill Rojas said San Francisco Unified School District is exempt from
the proposition. Rojas said the district operates under a 1975 federal consent decree that
requires it to offer a wide range of bilingual programs including courses of English
immersion, English as a second language and traditional bilingual education that teaches
subjects in a child's native language. (San Francisco Examiner)
SAN FRANCISCO, July 16 -- In a speedy decision intended to resolve how California will
teach non-English-speaking children before they go back to school, a federal judge yesterday
rejected a move to block voter-approved Proposition 227. The decision by Judge Charles
Legge in San Francisco means that as of August 2, school districts across the state may no
longer teach academics in any language but English. Replacing bilingual education will be a
required one- year program of intensive English instruction for students who don't speak
the language. The new law also lets parents sue teachers who refuse to teach in English, and
creates a $50 million annual fund to teach English to adults. ``Since there is no
constitutional right to bilingual education, the voters of California were free to reject
bilingual education,'' Legge wrote in an order whose 48-page length suggested he had made
up his mind before hearing arguments yesterday. Despite the overwhelming public support
and the judge's ruling, educators in several Bay Area districts said yesterday they will try
to find a way around the bilingual ban. (San Francisco Chronicle)
SAN FRANCISCO, July 16 -- A federal judge refused Wednesday to halt implementation of
Proposition 227, the anti-bilingual education initiative voters overwhelmingly approved
last month. The ruling cleared the way for a rapid and unprecedented shake-up of how
California's public schools teach 1.4 million students with limited English skills. The
judge's decision to allow the will of the voters to stand--for now--marked a departure from
the recent tendency of some federal courts to strike down or delay controversial initiatives
that have won voter approval. The emotional dispute over how best to teach students with
limited English skills is not a matter for the court to decide, U.S. District Judge Charles A.
Legge said. "I am not a supreme Board of Education," Legge said in announcing his ruling
from the bench after a hearing. "The voters expressed their policy preference." (Los Angeles
Times)
SAN FRANCISCO, July 16 -- Calling forecasts of dire consequences for minority children
"terribly over-stated," U.S. District Judge Charles Legge refused on Wednesday to block the
dismantling of bilingual education in California's public schools as required by Proposition
227. The initiative may be applied in a way that meets children's needs, Legge said. Unless
and until it fails, he said, he would not act as a "supreme board of education" to impose his
views about educational policy on the state's voters. Unless a higher court intervenes,
Legge's ruling means that the anti-bilingual education initiative will go into effect Aug. 2,
and "sheltered English immersion" will be the law when 1.4 million children with limited
English skills return to school in September. Under emergency regulations, immersion
programs must be designed to teach children enough English in a single school year to
transfer into mainstream classrooms, though children may be permitted additional
immersion years. School districts may grant waivers to parents who can demonstrate that
their children should stop attending immersion programs after 30 days and return to
bilingual classes. Proposition 227 sponsor Ron Unz said after the ruling that "98 percent"
of bilingual programs would be eliminated. (Sacramento Bee)
SAN FRANCISCO, July 16 -- A federal district judge yesterday declined to block the
initiative that is expected to end most bilingual education programs in California public
schools, saying Proposition 227 does not violate the law. U.S. District Judge Charles Legge
said that his job is only to determine whether the controversial initiative is legal, not
whether the quick, sheltered English immersion program imposed by Proposition 227 is
better than the years-long bilingual education. Proposition 227 was approved by 61
percent of the voters on June 2. But an exit poll showed that the initiative was opposed by
about two-thirds of Latino voters, and most of the students who will be affected by the
initiative are Latinos. Attorneys for a coalition of civil rights groups that sought a
preliminary injunction to block Proposition 227 said they are likely to appeal. But they
said swift action will be needed because the initiative requires school districts to begin
moving students into immersion programs in August and September. (San Diego Union
Tribune)
SAN FRANCISCO, July 15 -- A federal judge refused on Wednesday to block a measure
approved by state voters that bans bilingual education and requires all students to be taught
in English. Judge Charles Legge said the initiative, approved by 61 percent of voters June 2,
did not discriminate against minorities or violate a federal law requiring schools to
overcome students' language barriers. Requiring students to learn English in English
immersion classes ``is a valid educational theory,'' which is all that the federal law
requires, Legge said after a three-hour hearing. He said it was beyond his authority to decide
whether such classes was better than native-language instruction for teaching students
English. (New York Times)
NEW YORK, July 15 -- With new graduation standards requiring all high school students to
pass a rigorous English examination, state education officials are now proposing longer,
more intensive English classes for students with limited English skills. The proposal,
released on Tuesday by the state's education commissioner, Richard Mills, would require
those students, from kindergarten through high school, to spend two or three of their eight
school periods in English. Currently, the 225,000 students in the state with limited English
skills are required to spend only one 35-minute period a day learning the language. Many
spend the rest of their school day in classes taught in their native language. The measure,
which requires the approval of the seven-man state Board of Regents, is intended to address
two problems: helping bilingual students meet the higher graduation standards and
improving the way bilingual education is carried out. (New York Times)
WASHINGTON, July 13 -- Many teachers and some school districts in California plan to defy
a ban on bilingual education when school reopens this fall. Californians voted six weeks ago
by more than a 3-to-2 margin to ban most bilingual education programs in public schools.
However, more than 1,500 Los Angeles-area teachers have already signed pledges to
continue teaching English-deficient children in Spanish, Vietnamese and two dozen other
languages. Leaders of the San Francisco school district say they'll continue existing
programs even if legal challenges to the bilingual ban fail. And school officials in cities such
as Oakland, San Jose and Berkeley say they will seek ways around the prohibition.
(Washington Times)
LOS ANGELES, July 13 -- At Walnut Park Elementary, a heavily Latino school in Huntington
Park, administrators and teachers are preparing for the looming abolishment of bilingual
education as if it were "the Big One." When voters approved Proposition 227 in June, they
gave educators 60 days to revise curriculum, retrain and reassign teachers, and buy new
textbooks. The Los Angeles Unified School District has ordered staff not to change anything
pending the outcome of a hearing Wednesday on a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the law, but
the principal and his staff are tackling a wide range of logistical challenges as they move to
comply with Proposition 227, which requires that students with limited English to be
placed in a yearlong English immersion program. In the process, they are redefining their
6-year-old school of 1,300 students and its position in a working-class neighborhood both
as a center of learning and a nexus of community programs. (Los Angeles Times)
SACRAMENTO, July 10 -- The California State Board of Education unanimously adopted
emergency regulations Thursday intended to give local schools and parents as much
flexibility as possible in carrying out Proposition 227, the voter-approved initiative that
sought to end bilingual education. The emergency regulations, which first need to be
approved by the Office of Administrative Law before taking effect, say that schools must have
"structured English immersion" programs -- the content of which remains undefined --
for any semester or equivalent term that begins after Aug. 2. While the state board already
had decided it does not have the authority to grant waivers to school districts that want to
maintain bilingual programs, its action Thursday stressed that parents themselves can
request waivers to place their children in programs other than English immersion.The
regulations say such parent waivers "shall be granted unless the school principal and
education staff have substantial evidence that the alternative program requested by parents
would not be better suited for the pupil." (Sacramento Bee)
SACRAMENTO, July 10 -- The state Board of Education approved guidelines Thursday that
mean school districts must start complying with a new law intended to eliminate most
bilingual education programs. Parents and school officials grumbled Thursday at some of the
wording in the board's regulations, which provide a framework for carrying out Proposition
227. But trustees said afterward that they tried to interpret the new law in a way that gives
schools and parents as much control as possible over their children's education. The only
chance the proposition might not take effect as planned now rests with a federal lawsuit
seeking to have the initiative invalidated. (San Jose Mercury News)
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. July 6 -- About 500 Orange County teachers are working this
summer for a special certificate to teach students who are learning to speak English. The
teachers have enrolled for two reasons: The newly passed anti-bilingual education initiative
hasn't changed state requirements for teachers working with limited-English students, and
some predict that more teachers will be working with these kids. "Students are going to
leave their self-contained bilingual classes," said DeRienzo, a seventh-grade teacher. "We
need new tools to help them." Proposition 227, passed in June, aims to put limited-English
students in all-English classes after one year. The initiative doesn't address teacher
credentials, so districts are continuing to train their new and veteran teachers. Orange
County districts require teachers to complete special training to teach limited-English
students. Some districts also give veteran teachers a time limit to complete a course
specially designed for experienced teachers. Yet while the initiative's ambiguities are being
worked out by the state Board of Education, teachers are drawing their own conclusions
about teacher training. (Orange County Register)
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. July 6 -- In school after school, grade after grade, many Orange
County students who have successfully learned English as a second language are outscoring
their native-English peers on California's statewide test. As the state wrangles in court
over whether it can release the test scores of students who are not fluent in English, scores
already released by Orange County schools reveal what is more than a statistical quirk. The
results have educators reexamining everything from the role of motivation in academic
achievement to the value of learning a foreign language early and the success or failure of
bilingual education. (Los Angeles Times)
SACRAMENTO, July 2 --Turning up the pressure on schools to dismantle their bilingual
education programs, the State Board of Education declared Wednesday that a sweeping
initiative approved by voters last month should take effect during the 1998-99 school year
on all campuses statewide. The 7-1 board vote rebuffed the arguments of some education
groups and school districts, including Los Angeles Unified, that the fine print in Proposition
227 allowed many schools--those operating year-round--to wait until July 1999 before
switching to strictly English instruction. The board vote leaves foes of the initiative pinning
their hopes on a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco seeking to have the
proposition invalidated. A hearing on the suit is scheduled July 15. (Los Angeles Times)
