The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Bittersweet: After the votes from the June 2 election were tallied, including these cast at the San Jose Fire Department's station in Willow Glen, local school officials found themselves both euphoric and disappointed.

Election results spark mixed reactions from school officials

The District 6 votes mirror those cast across the state

By Rebecca Wallace

After the June 2 election, many local school officials were left with mixed feelings--relieved by the defeat of Proposition 223, which sought to slash state schools' administrative costs, but saddened by the passage of Proposition 227, which calls for prohibiting bilingual education in state schools.

"I was anticipating a nightmare," said San Jose Unified School District spokesperson Maureen Munroe about 223, which many saw as a forced move away from local control.

Superintendent Linda Murray concurred, adding, "We're very disappointed on 227."

But local voters didn't completely agree. Votes cast in San Jose's City Council District 6, which includes Willow Glen, mirrored those across the state.

Often called the "95/5 initiative," Proposition 223 required that at least 95 cents of every dollar collected by a district be spent on personnel and programs directly involved with students. No more than 5 cents could be spent on administrative activities, and districts would be fined if not in compliance.

Munroe said that SJUSD would have had to reorganize accounting procedures and shift district costs to schools--a process that might have been costly and would not make a substantive change. She added that it would have been impractical for schools to handle administrative duties.

After celebrating the downfall of 223, district officials are mapping out a strategy for applying to the state Board of Education for a waiver from 227. They are holding a meeting June 29 to gather public opinion on the issue.

SJUSD officials are also scheduled to appear before the state board in Julyto request a waiver.

Murray said the district might also consider filing a legal challenge to theinitiative, but officials preferred to try to exhaust all administrative remedies first.

Most of the schools in SJUSD have bilingual programs. At Willow Glen's River Glen Elementary, students in kindergarten through seventh grade are taught in Spanish and English through the school's immersion program.

Authored by one-time gubernatorial candidate Ron Unz, 227 calls for non-English-speaking students to learn the language in segregated English immersion classes lasting a maximum of one year.

Unz told The Resident last fall that he had heard numerous reports that students were not learning English in bilingual classes. His proposal sparked many a debate about the best way to teach children English.

River Glen principal Cecilia Barrie said she was "saddened" by 227's passing. "Every parent, every child is here by choice, and this choice is being denied to them," she said.

Although Barrie emphasizes the fact that school officials will not defy the law, she says nothing will change at River Glen until the issue is settled in the courts. Several groups have already filed legal challenges against 227.

Celia Ruiz, an attorney for the district, said that programs such as River Glen's show the district's "commitment to quality bilingual education programs and their belief that they are effective in teaching children English." She believes that's one of the reasons why the district should be granted a waiver.

Ruiz cited the general waiver clause of the state education code, which states that waivers shall be granted unless students' educational needs are not being met.

"We looked at [227], and it does not say that it's nonwaivable," she said.

The district might also be granted a waiver just for Spanish-English programs because of a 1994 federal court decree requiring it to improve educational options for Spanish-speakers, Ruiz said.

In 1985, the district was ordered to racially balance its schools and faculty after a class-action suit claimed that district officials intentionally segregated schools, Ruiz said.

After a few years, the district asked to be released from court supervision because it had met its goals. The plaintiffs resisted, and both sides agreed upon a consent decree that provided a more flexible definition of a desegregated school, with a greater emphasis on recruiting Latino students into higher-level courses.

"It called for providing bilingual support for limited-English-proficient students," Munroe said.

Whether the state Board of Education will agree that this federal court order supersedes a state ballot initiative remains to be seen.

The waiver "should be granted if we're just looking at the waiver statute and the legal requirement, but we are dealing with a political state Board of Education," Ruiz said. "I'm not sure what to expect."

Proposition 223

California
Yes: 111,916--43.6%
No: 144,708--56.4%

San Jose District 6
Yes: 5,572--43.4%
No: 7,252--56.6%

Proposition 227

California
Yes: 153,978--56.3%
No: 119,599--43.7%

San Jose District 6
Yes: 7,262--52.7%
No: 6,530--47.3%

Statistics from the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters

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