Bilingual Classes Still Thriving in Wake of Prop.
227
Education: In L.A. Unified, about 10% return to native
language instruction; figure is as high as 90% elsewhere.
Measure allows parents that choice.
By NICK ANDERSON, LOUIS SAHAGUN, Times Staff Writers
After a one-month stint in English-intensive classes required by a new state law, tens of
thousands of California students with limited English skills are heading back into
bilingual education this fall at the request of their parents.
Close to 12,000 of those students are in the Los Angeles Unified School District, data
provided to The Times on Wednesday show.
Though sizable, that number pales next to the about 107,000 Los Angeles students who
were in formal bilingual classes before voters last June approved Proposition 227.
Many of the students who are enrolled in English "immersion" classes actually get
substantial help in their native languages.
Districts in Oxnard, Pomona, San Jose and elsewhere report far heavier streams of
limited-English students--up to 80% and 90% in some cases--flowing back into
hastily formed bilingual classrooms. There, stories can once again be read as cuentos and
mathematics and science taught as matematica y ciencia.
The initial data show Proposition 227 has hit bilingual education much like a tornado
hopscotching through a subdivision, obliterating some programs and leaving others
virtually untouched.
The number of students returning to bilingual education statewide--most of them
Spanish-speaking--is large enough to belie the assumption of many voters and pundits
that
Proposition 227 would erase a method of teaching that for decades has attracted fierce
critics and stubborn loyalists.
Supporters of the proposition had campaigned on the slogan "Let's teach English to all of
California's children and end bilingual education by June 1998."
School administrators, most of whom opposed the ballot measure, say the return to
bilingual classrooms is entirely consistent with the new law. While the proposition
requires schools to teach students in English, it also allows parents to pull children out
of English immersion classrooms after 30 days under certain circumstances.
Complex Aftermath of Prop. 227
As often happens when the broad strokes of politics give way to the ambiguities of law
and administration, the aftermath of Proposition 227 has proved complex. Bilingual
education has certainly not ended in California, interviews and records show, nor will it
any time soon.
"There is room in our schools for bilingual education programs and English language
acquisition programs," said Forrest Ross, a Los Angeles school official overseeing
implementation of Proposition 227. "And we're seeing this happen. They're side by side
in schools."
Statewide, 1.4 million students in public schools are not fluent in English. Of those,
about three in 10 were taught last school year in their native languages, often for as
much as 70%, 80% or even 90% of the school day. Many had gone for years without
becoming fluent in English. Those were the programs that Republican businessman Ron
Unz targeted when he sponsored the first state voter initiative in the nation to curtail
bilingual teaching.
Data provided to The Times by several key school districts show that Unz has
accomplished his goal in many areas.
Given the choice between keeping children in the English-based classes in which they
began the school year or seeking permission to put them back into bilingual education,
many parents choose English. For many, it was simply a matter of not wanting to change
teachers in midterm.
In Fresno and Santa Ana, bilingual programs have shrunk considerably. In Paramount
Unified, Mountain View Elementary and Long Beach Unified--three Los Angeles County
districts that had large bilingual programs--few parents have expressed interest in so
called "waivers" to keep their children in those programs.
Even in Los Angeles Unified, which Unz has criticized for allegedly failing to move
vigorously to stamp out native language instruction, scores of schools report that few or
no parents have filed petitions to put their children back into bilingual classes. District
officials predict that the tally will grow in coming months, as the law takes hold.
"If we've reduced the number of students in bilingual education in Los Angeles by 90% in
the first year, in the face of massive resistance, that's a pretty good start," Unz said.
However, Unz charged that tens of thousands more Los Angeles students are getting a
watered-down form of bilingual education under the table. He complained that some
classes created to comply with the initiative are English immersion in name only.
Major Support in Some Districts
The data released Wednesday show more than 96,000 limited-English students are now
in a program that the Los Angeles district says gives students instruction "primarily" in
English, along with "support" in their native language from bilingual teachers.
Bilingual education enjoys substantial backing in some areas outside Los Angeles.
In San Jose Unified and Alum Rock Union Elementary districts in Santa Clara County, the
number of students returning to bilingual education this year will be more than half of
last year's total. In Oxnard and Hueneme elementary districts in Ventura County,
officials report a return rate exceeding 80% and 90%, respectively. San Francisco
schools report almost no students dropping out of bilingual classes.
"Our parents and our community have faith in our school district efforts and programs,"
said Cassandra George, an assistant superintendent in Pomona Unified, where at least
3,500 students are projected to return to bilingual education, compared to 5,461 before
the election.
The emerging data on parent response to Proposition 227 is significant because many
parents now have a voice in the debate for the first time. The initiative was approved by
61% of a spring primary electorate tilted toward white, middle-class, older voters.
This time, Latino parents, many of whom could not or did not vote, dominate the
"electorate." They can "vote" by applying for a waiver at any time in the school year.
Virtually all applications get approved, although the law says that younger students must
have "special" educational needs to qualify for a bilingual program.
Predictably, each side of the bilingual debate charges that parents are being misled by
propaganda from the other side. Some pro-bilingual teachers complain that they have
been gagged by school administrators. Some anti-bilingual education critics allege that
teachers and principals have done everything for parents to get a waiver except sign the
forms.
But perhaps a greater problem for parents seeking to make an informed decision is the
impenetrability of education jargon. The Los Angeles district produced a videotape in an
attempt to clarify the choices between what it calls "Model A" English immersion, "Model
B" English immersion, "regular" English-language classes, "basic" bilingual education
and "dual" bilingual education. At the end of a 23-minute segment in Spanish,
administrator Forrest Ross told viewers, "Thank you, goodbye and good luck."
Many of the parent responses defied easy analysis.
At Belvedere Elementary School in East Los Angeles, where 826 children were in
bilingual programs before the election, just 19 petitions had been filed to put them back
into those programs--and three were later withdrawn. The numbers could rise as the
year-round school continues to put the new law into effect.
Still, Principal Robert G. Quihuis said: "I'll be honest with you. I'm really surprised."
Mothers picking up their children after school weren't surprised. One said she chose an
English track because her 9-year-old daughter liked it more. Others said they had
nothing against bilingual education in theory, but preferred English for their own
children.
"I was considering a waiver, but I decided not to because I feel she should just learn
English. I think she will be better off," said Myra Camarillo, whose 6-year-old
daughter, Bernice, is now in first grade after spending a year in a bilingual
kindergarten. "It was a tough decision. I do want her to know Spanish. But at school she
can learn English, at home Spanish."
Sentiment was reversed at another campus barely a mile away.
Waiting at the counter in the front office at Eastman Avenue Elementary School recently,
Rosa Valencia buttonholed a campus bilingual coordinator and asked, "Did I get it? Did I
get the waiver?"
Valencia feared that she had not filled out the application correctly for her 7-year-old
daughter, Karina. She smiled broadly when the coordinator told her that the request had
been granted. In all, the school issued 883 waivers.
Later, with her second-grader at her side, Valencia, a native of Mexico, said: "I believe
in the bilingual program--and all of my six children speak Spanish. We all support the
first language in our home, as well as the second language spoken in our school
community."
Added Karina, "I like speaking two languages."
* CROWDED SCHOOLS: L.A. school district officials concede they greatly underestimated
this year's enrollment. B1
* * *
Requests for Bilingual Classes
L.A. Unified: 107,226 students (11%) were in bilingual classes last year; 11,809
requested them this year.
* * *
Other Districts in Southern California
1997-98 bilingual students
Requests this fall
Compton Unified (L.A. Co.)
3,996
200
Pomona Unified (L.A. Co.)
5,461
3,500
Santa Ana Unified (Orange Co.)
11,029
2,037
Oxnard Elementary (Ventura Co.)
5,773
4,650
* * *
Bilingual Vote, Take 2
Parents in California are choosing this fall whether to put their children with limited
English skills into English-intensive classes, required by Proposition 227, or to seek
permission for them to continue in bilingual education. Here are the 20 districts with
the most students in bilingual classes before the initiative passed in June, and the
number of waiver applications each had received as of mid-October. Few applicants have
been turned down. Some districts provided partial tallies or estimates.
School district: Los Angeles Unified
Students in bilingual classes: 107,226
Waiver requests: 11,809
* * *
School district: San Diego City Unified
Students in bilingual classes: 12,704
Waiver requests: NA
* * *
School district: Long Beach Unified (Los Angeles County)
Students in bilingual classes: 12,093
Waiver requests: No plans for waivers
* * *
School district: Santa Ana Unified (Orange County)
Students in bilingual classes: 11,029
Waiver requests: 2,037
* * *
School district: Montebello Unified (Los Angeles County)
Students in bilingual classes: 10,896
Waiver requests: NA
* * *
School district: *San Francisco Unified
Students in bilingual classes: 8,210
Waiver requests: Nearly all
* * *
School district: Oxnard Elementary (Ventura County)
Students in bilingual classes: 5,773
Waiver requests: 4,650
* * *
School district: Pajaro Valley Joint Unified (Santa Cruz County)
Students in bilingual classes: 5,471
Waiver requests: 3,049
* * *
School district: Pomona Unified (Los Angeles County)
Students in bilingual classes: 5,461
Waiver requests: 3,500
* * *
School district: Mountain View Elementary (Los Angeles County)
Students in bilingual classes: 5,330
Waiver requests: 400
* * *
School district: San Bernardino City Unified (San Bernardino County)
Students in bilingual classes: 4,888
Waiver requests: Many expected
* * *
School district: San Jose Unified (Santa Clara County)
Students in bilingual classes: 4,560
Waiver requests: 2,635
* * *
School district: Alum Rock Union Elementary (Santa Clara County)
Students in bilingual classes: 4,326
Waiver requests: 2,840
* * *
School district: Paramount Unified (Los Angeles County)
Students in bilingual classes: 4,283
Waiver requests: Few expected
* * *
School district: Fresno Unified (Fresno County)
Students in bilingual classes: 4,215
Waiver requests: 1,200
* * *
School district: Compton Unified (Los Angeles County)
Students in bilingual classes: 3,996
Waiver requests: 200
* * *
School district: Alisal Union Elementary (Monterey County)
Students in bilingual classes: 3,915
Waiver requests: Nearly all
* * *
School district: Vista Unified (San Diego County)
Students in bilingual classes: 3,582
Waiver requests: Half expected
* * *
School district: Hueneme Elementary (Ventura County)
Students in bilingual classes: 3,532
Waiver requests: Nearly all
* * *
School district: Coachella Valley Unified (Riverside County)
Students in bilingual classes: 3,529
Waiver requests: Many sought
* Note: San Francisco Unified contends that it is required to offer bilingual classes under
a federal court order.
Sources: California Department of Education, school districts
Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved