The Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) announced that the Alameda Superior Court has set a hearing on its request to force the State Board of Education to consider the District’s waiver of Proposition 227. The hearing date is scheduled for Aug. 27.

OUSD filed a petition on July 21 for a writ of mandate along with Berkeley and Hayward School Districts. The state Board has entered into a stipulation with these three districts that has the effect of a temporary restraining order preventing the State Department of Education from taking action against them for not implementing the Unz initiative requiring students who are not proficient in English to attend English only classes.

“We are exploring all options beyond our legal challenge that include beginning to prepare for implementation of a parental waiver process,” said Roy Combs, the OUSD General Counsel.

The Oakland District has a compliance agreement with the Office of Civil Rights under the Equal Education Opportunity Act which mandates that it provide primary language instruction through 1999. Non-compliance could put at risk over 25 million in federal bilingual funds that OUSD receives.



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