It seems like just yesterday, but are we really celebrating the 10th anniversary of the successful campaign to pass the Proposition 227 to end bilingual education in California in favor of English immersion programs? The campaign we called English for the Children.
It seems like just yesterday when I got a phone call from my friend and political mentor at the time Lorelei Kinder. Lorelei, who is passionate about the education issue (I can still her rolling quotes from her friend and senior education official in the latter part of the Reagan Administration, Chester “Checker” Finn, off of her tongue). Lorelei asked me if I would be interested leaving my position (at the time I was a special assistant to then State Senator John Lewis) and go to work as the Campaign Coordinator for the fledgling Prop. 227 effort. I took her up on the idea, and soon found myself having a meeting with the impressive genius (literally) of this ballot measure campaign – successful Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Ron Unz. It was amazing to hear him tell the story about how so many children in California were unable to learn fluent English because of a bilingual education bureaucracy that thrived on keeping these kids speaking Spanish. I was hooked.
In short order, I found myself commuting from Orange County to the Garment District just off of Downtown Los Angeles where I shared a store-front office with a new friend, Sheri Annis, the only other full time employee of the effort – Sheri’s job was coordinating all of the media and public relations for the campaign – ultimately her role, working closely with Ron Unz, was critical as Proposition 227 by and large received a tremendous amount of positive ink which lead to its overwhelming victory, 61% in favor to 39% against. We did have an several interns – Leah, Alicia, and Ben, who were in the office a lot (he still owes me my Frank Sinatra Greatest Hits CD), and Ron was down quite a bit himself (he lives in Palo Alto).
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June 19th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Happy Birthday!
Too bad it didn’t amount to squat.
A government study recently found that LAUSD’s graduation rate is only 45%. A nice, big fat “F”. One of the lowest in the nation.
There is no fix to California’s problems. The state is a basket case, unable to legislate itself from it’s self-made mess.
Let’s face it, the plethora of Mexican families which attend California public schools reject English and our culture of staying in school and working to get a college degree.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Jon, it is an exciting anniversary! I well remember Ron’s invaluable help when I organized a referendum on 227 in the LA Teachers Union (UTLA) which ended up showing 49% support of 227! We accomplished a lot of good, but “bilingual ed.” supporters are trying to make a come-back through charter schools. Green Dot, the primary charter operator in L.A., supported by the mayor, allows students to write essays in Spanish. The essays are translated into English by teachers, then the English translations are submitted for a grade. Outrageous, and in violation of 227, but, as Ron has confirmed, charters are not covered by 227. Our work, unfortunately is not done.
Keep up the good work with your newsletter!
Best, Doug Lasken