SANTA ROSA School board OKs bilingual limits

Santa Rosa school board members Wednesday approved new rules that some Latino parents and activists have argued will greatly restrict student access to bilingual education.

The board voted 7-0 to adopt new rules governing parent requests for bilingual education as allowed by Proposition 227, a 1998 initiative that sought to restrict most instruction to English.

No one spoke in opposition to the rules Wednesday, though parents did so at both an earlier board meeting and at an advisory committee meeting in April.

Board members have defended the rules, saying they are more consistent with state law than past practice. They noted that last year every student who applied was deemed eligible for bilingual classes by school officials.

The new rules, to be reviewed in a year, require that a school study team and the superintendent determine that a child has an educational need for bilingual education. A lack of English is specifically ruled out as a basis for such need.

- Robert Digitale