Education Dept. Faults Anti-Bilingual Measure

Calif. Ballot Issue Has Popular Support

The administration announced yesterday that it opposes the California ballot measure that would ban bilingual education, again placing President Clinton at odds with majority sentiment in the nation’s largest state on a divisive social issue.

The Education Department issued a statement condemning Proposition 227 as counterproductive, saying it would impose an arbitrary one-size-fits-all instructional formula on local schools and teachers, inevitably leaving some children stuck in an "educational straitjacket."

"We understand the public sentiment in California and one can easily say we are flying in the face of whatever the conventional wisdom is in California about the popularity of that measure," said White House press secretary Michael McCurry. "At the same time, the president thinks you can make a good argument that communities need to make these decisions based on what’s best for their public school population."

Proposition 227 would require that non-native speakers be provided up to a year of English immersion instruction and then shifted into regular classes where only English is spoken, unless their parents could obtain a waiver. According to the latest polls, at least 70 percent of Californians support the measure, which will be decided in a June 2 election, and even a majority of Latinos surveyed in the state have registered their support.

The proposition once again puts California in the forefront of controversial policy debates with a sharp ethnic edge and again puts Clinton in the position of arguing against popular voter-backed changes that he fears would generate ripple effects elsewhere in the country.

In 1994, Clinton opposed Proposition 187, which was designed to deny most state benefits to illegal aliens, and in 1996, he opposed Proposition 209, which rolled back state affirmative action programs. In both cases, California voters rebuffed his opinion and passed the measures. California Gov. Pete Wilson (R) predicted yesterday that Clinton would "make it 0 for 3 in a reverse hat trick."

"I frankly think he has no business . . . substituting [his] judgment for that of the people of California. I think this is a political gesture," said Wilson, who added he was "strongly leaning" for Proposition 227 although he has not made up his mind.

While coming out against the proposition, Clinton signaled that he was not willing to invest much political capital in working for its defeat — just as he did not campaign vigorously against Proposition 209 two years ago. Clinton left yesterday’s announcement to Education Secretary Richard W. Riley and, according to aides, has no plans to speak out against the anti-bilingual measure unless asked about it, even though he will be in California this weekend to raise money for Democrats and visit his daughter, Chelsea.

In a nod to the strong current of concern about bilingual education in California, where 1.3 million students speak little or no English, the administration offered a compromise model yesterday that would set a nonbinding goal of three years to move immigrant students into all-English classes.

"He’s trying to take the path of least resistance, knowing that California voters are outraged by the current system yet trying to placate the education lobby," said Sheri Annis, a spokeswoman for the group sponsoring Proposition 227.

Opponents, however, were disappointed. Ambrosio Rodriguez, a legislative staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said the group welcomed Clinton’s decision and hoped it would "shed light on everything that is wrong with Proposition 227." But he decried the three-year formulation and was discouraged that Clinton would not campaign while in California. "It’s a shame," Rodriguez said. "I wish he would."



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