Ì Californians Together: A Roundtable for Quality Education
ACTION ALERT
English Learner Regulations/Parental Exception Waivers
Background: At the request of State Board of Education President, Reed Hastings and through the leadership of Saeed Ali, Chief of Staff to the Latino Legislative Caucus, representatives from State Board staff, Department of Education, Multicultural Education Training and Advocacy, Inc., California Teachers Association, Association of California School Administrators, California School Boards Association, Californians Together, Chinese for Affirmative Action, California Rural Legal Assistance, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, CABE, among others met several times over a two week period prior to the November State Board of Education meeting to come to consensus on regulation language for parent exception waivers, notification and reclassification. There were a few areas of strong disagreement, but working together, enabled the group to put together Parental Waiver Regulations that contained provisions that all could support. Not enough time and lacking information prevented developing consensus language on Reclassification.
A final draft of the revised parental waiver regulations that all stakeholders agreed to was circulated one week prior to the State Board of Education meeting. Notwithstanding the long hours put in traveling to Sacramento, engaging in discussions and drafting compromise language, staff counsel took it upon herself to add language that had never been viewed, discussed or agreed upon by the group of stakeholders involved. The proposed regulations presented to the State Board of Education in November contained new language that appeared minor but had a significant substantive impact. The proposed language is contained in Section 11309 (a). It is restated below with the additions emboldened.
(a) Education Code Sections 310 and 311 repose decision-making authority for selecting English Learner educational options from those alternatives made available at the school under Education Code Sections 300-340 in the parents or guardians of English Learner students. Thus, these regulations shall be construed to give maximum authority and information to parents so that they can make an informed decision concerning the educational placement of their children within the options made available by the school under Education Code Sections 300-340.
If this regulation is adopted, decision-making authority for selecting between LEP educational options may well be wrested from parents and reposed in school administrators, who will be able to render parental choice meaningless by eliminating any real options. Such a result would be completely contrary to the design of Proposition 227 to empower parents.
Action: These regulations have been formally posted by the State Board of Education for 45 days. A hearing and vote on the language will be held in Sacramento, January 10, 2002 at 11:00 a.m. In preparation for this hearing Californians Together is asking for the following actions:
1. Distribute petitions to parents and collect signatures. Bring the signed petitions to the State Board of Education hearing on January 10th or send them to California Tomorrow, 1904 Franklin St,
Suite 200, Oakland, California, 94612
2. Make a check out to Latino Civil Right Network for $100 (if possible) and either give it directly to a coalition member or mail it to the Network at 634 S. Spring St. L.A. CA. 90014. With this money a full page ad will be published in a major California newspaper urging the governor to respect the rights of parents to choose as granted under the provisions of Prop. 227.
3. Encourage parents and district representatives to appear at the hearing in Sacramento on January 10, 2002 and express their opposition to this language.
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