Statement of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda
on Proposition 227
February 25, 1998
The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda strongly opposes Proposition 227 sponsored by businessman Ron Unz which is slated for the June 2, 1998 primary election ballot in California. The initiative represents a giant step backwards in the Hispanic community's continuing quest for educational equity and excellence.
California schools currently enroll nearly 1.4 million students who are limited in their English language proficiency (LEP). Spanish-speaking students represent nearly 80 percent of these students, more than 1.1. million.
According to the California Department of Education, there is tremendous diversity in the types of instructional programs which local schools provide to LEP students. Bilingual instruction by teachers who use both English and a student's native language is provided to approximately 30 percent of the LEP enrollment. Nearly half of California's LEP students are taught by teachers only in English, and approximately 20 percent of all LEP students receive no special instructional programs of services.
Virtually all of the instructional programs currently provided by local school districts to limited- English-proficient students would be outlawed under Proposition 227 which mandates a single instructional model. Under the initiative, all LEP students would be provided one year of intensive English instruction and then be transferred to regular classrooms. Virtually none of the current special programs for LEP students---either bilingual or monolingual English---are limited to a single year. This is how it should be since there is no research evidence to support Ron Unz's assertion that LEP students can master English in a single year.
Proposition 227 would reinstate, as part of the California education code, an English-only instructional mandate similar to the one which governed state classrooms from 1872 to 1967 when it was repealed by legislation signed by former Governor Ronald Reagan. The original English-only instructional mandate harmed Hispanic students in several ways: it made their acquisition of English more difficult and frustrating; it unnecessarily delayed their academic subject matter learning; it prevented parents with limited English skills from actively participating in their English children's schooling; and it was a major factor in causing three of every four Hispanic students to drop out of school before high school graduation. Indeed, the 1960 Census found that only half of all California Mexican-American youth aged 18-24 had even completed the 8th grade.
Ron Unz's initiative would outlaw some of the most effective instructional programs for LEP students. It would do so without regard to the wishes of local school board members, educators, and parents. It would ban two-way bilingual education programs which are helping non- and native-English speaking students become fluent and literate in English and a second language. And it would outlaw programs which have helped communities like Calexico dramatically reduce the Hispanic student dropout problem. Finally, Proposition 227 would subject teachers to new legal liabilities and impose additional costs on taxpayers for litigation.
Let us be clear: bilingual education is not a panacea. Like all other education programs, bilingual education works only if it is properly implemented. The Unz initiative, on the other hand, will not work because it cannot work. It can only harm the students and taxpayers of California.
Therefore, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda strongly opposes Proposition 227 and urges all Californians to join in this opposition.
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