Proposition 227 Bilingual Education

The California Teachers Assn. lost a federal suit challenging part of Proposition 227, which requires that students be taught in English. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, agreeing with a lower court, left intact the right of parents and guardians to sue if a teacher "willfully and repeatedly" violates the voter-approved initiative. The court agreed with a judge who rejected CTA contentions that the provision is vague and violates teachers' free speech rights.

When the bell rings at Morningside Elementary School in San Fernando, Elizabeth Reyes arrives at 2:40 p.m. sharp--not to pick up her third-grade daughter, but to attend class herself. Since emigrating from Mexico 12 years ago, Reyes, 32, had never been in a hurry to learn English. Her husband discouraged her--and besides, her kids were small and the family only spoke Spanish in their San Fernando home.

Crisofero Fabian, a restaurant cook from Mexico and father of three, believes that the immigrant students in this seaside town must learn English to have a shot at a better life. Everyone at R.H. Dana Elementary School agrees. The question is how. First-grade teacher Eliana Escobar is a true believer in bilingual education. Principal David F. Gerhard wants to give children more English instruction but preserve the bilingual safety net. And Fabian?

Here is cause for a double take: At least two out of three voters say they favor a June ballot initiative to end bilingual education, but not one of the major candidates for governor--Democrat or Republican--supports it. Don't they care what voters want? Usually such popular measures have little trouble winning endorsements from candidates eager to boost their campaigns.

Wading into the state's debate over bilingual instruction, a White House commission on Latino education plans to declare its opposition today to Proposition 227 at a meeting in Claremont designed to underscore the national stakes of the June 2 vote.

This is ground zero of the latest hot-button initiative to confront Californians: a roomful of chattering children ruled by a no-nonsense Episcopal priest on the urine-scented fringe of Los Angeles' skid row. It is here, in Alice Callaghan's storefront center for garment workers' families, that she and a group of Latino parents launched a rebellion against bilingual education, inspiring software millionaire Ron K.

Proponents of Proposition 227, which seeks to dismantle bilingual education statewide, welcomed endorsements Thursday from their latest supporters: a prominent group of local Asian American leaders, including Garden Grove Councilman Ho Chung and Westminster Councilman Tony Lam. The initiative's author and primary funder, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Ron Unz, pointed to the public support as the strongest sign yet of the measure's broad appeal in California's ethnic and immigrant communities.

After months of deliberation, Mayor Richard Riordan on Thursday endorsed the campaign to end California's system of bilingual education, which he described as a well-intended experiment overtaken by special interests and now badly failing the state's children. "I know of a few laboratory examples of bilingual education succeeding," the mayor told members of the Westchester Chamber of Commerce. "But in the vast, vast majority of schools it is a total failure."

Trustees in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District have adopted a resolution opposing Proposition 227, the June ballot measure seeking to end bilingual education statewide. In a 4-1 vote, the majority said it was concerned about what affect the measure would have, if passed, on the district's two-way language immersion program for English- and Spanish-speaking children.

The principal of Aldama Elementary School in Northeast Los Angeles is a crisply dressed Latina who learned English in a grade school where it was the only language teachers spoke. Now, Martha Trevino Powell has no patience with people who say children need nurturing in their native tongue. "Everybody says, 'I was damaged, my self-esteem was ruined because they forced me to speak English,' " she said. But Powell has no regrets. "I speak English and Spanish. I'm grateful."