In 1998 I was proud to be part of a small but committed team who saw that bilingual education wasn’t working as a means to teach young children English, and thus keeping them from living the American dream – Proposition 227, the English for the Children campaign ushered out bilingual education in exchange for English immersion.
I remember many, many days and hours spent in our storefront office in the garment district — working with Sheri Annis, our our go-to guy Ben, and all of our great volunteers — almost exclusively Spanish speaking parents frustrated that their kids were not learning English in school. A lot of help came from Sister Alice Callaghan and the folks from her shelter on Skid Row — Las Familias Del Pueblo.
Our campaign Chairman (and funder) for the effort was Ron Unz whose passion for seeing these children actually learn was amazing — Ron devoted years of his life to this cause. Our campaign Co-Chair was Gloria Matta Tuchman, a teacher who successfully had used immersion to teach her ESL students for many, many years. And our Honorary Campaign Chairman was none other than Jaime Escalante, the famed math teacher immortalized in the movie Stand and Deliver. Also critical on our campaign team was the brilliant Arnie Steinberg. And of course the late Lorelei Kinder and the late Don Dornan. Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan (he was Mayor at the time) was a huge booster.
Our opponents were primarily the unions — especially the California Teachers Association and their Bilingual Educators Caucus. For once, in California, they lost — and on an “education” issue no less. But that’s okay because the winners, for the last 15 years have been the children.
Now the CTA dominated legislature is working overtime to put a measure back before voters, no doubt presented in a completely biased fashion, to reverse the policies of Prop. 227. Gloria Matta Tuchman pens an exclusive piece for the FlashReport, which I encourage you to read and share. You can read it here.