| Proposition 227 | |||||||||||||||||||
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| English Language in Public Schools. Initiative Statute. | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: California Secretary of State [1] | |||||||||||||||||||
Proposition 227 [2] was a California ballot proposition passed on the June 2, 1998, ballot. Proposition 227 was repealed by Proposition 58 on November 8, 2016.
In California, a ballot proposition can be a referendum or an initiative measure that is submitted to the electorate for a direct decision or direct vote. If passed, it can alter one or more of the articles of the Constitution of California, one or more of the 29 California Codes, or another law in the California Statutes by clarifying current or adding statute(s) or removing current statute(s).
According to Ballotpedia, "Proposition 227 changed the way that "Limited English Proficient" (LEP) students are taught in California. Specifically, it
Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia written by a staff of researchers and writers. Founded in 2007, it covers American federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Burns Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Middleton, Wisconsin. As of 2014, Ballotpedia employed 34 writers and researchers; it reported an editorial staff of over 50 in 2018.
- Required California public schools to teach LEP students in special classes that are taught nearly all in English. This provision had the effect of eliminating "bilingual" classes in most cases.
- Shortened the time that most LEP students stayed in special classes.
- Eliminated most programs in the state that provided multi-year special classes to LEP students by requiring that (1) LEP students move from special classes to regular classes when they had acquired a good working knowledge of English and (2) these special classes not normally last longer than one year.
- Required the state government to provide $50 million every year for ten years for English classes for adults who promised to tutor LEP students. [3]
The bill's intention was to educate Limited English proficiency students in a rapid, one-year program. It was sponsored by Ron Unz, the runner-up candidate in the 1994 Republican gubernatorial primary. The proposition was controversial because of its close proximity to heated political issues including race, immigration, and poverty. The methods of education enacted by the proposition reflected the electorate's support of assimilation over multiculturalism. It passed with a margin of 61% to 39%.
Limited English proficiency (LEP) is a term used in the United States that refers to a person who is not fluent in the English language, often because it is not their native language. Both LEP and English-language learner (ELL) are terms used by the Office for Civil Rights, a sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Education.
Ron Keeva Unz is a former businessman, best known for an unsuccessful race in the California gubernatorial election, 1994, and for sponsoring propositions promoting structured English immersion education. He was publisher of The American Conservative from March 2007 to August 2013. He now publishes The Unz Review: An Alternative Media Selection: A Collection of Interesting, Important, and Controversial Perspectives Largely Excluded from the American Mainstream Media.
The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States; the other is its historic rival, the Democratic Party.
On September 28, 2014, the state legislature passed, and Governor Jerry Brown signed, Senate Bill 1174, which added Proposition 58 to the November 2016 ballot. [4] Proposition 58, which repealed most of Proposition 227, passed by a wide margin. [5]
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown Jr. is an American politician who served as the 34th and 39th Governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Brown served as California Attorney General from 2007 to 2011. He was both the oldest and sixth-youngest Governor of California as a consequence of the 28-year gap between his second and third terms.
The number of bilingual credentials fell after Proposition 227's passage. A California Department of Education spokesperson anticipated a shortage of bilingual teachers after the passage of Proposition 58. [6]
The California Department of Education is an agency within the Government of California that oversees public education. Its headquarters are located in the U.S. state of California's capital city, Sacramento.
