Santa Ana Defends Bilingual Classes

In response to a highly critical report by the Orange County Grand Jury, Santa Ana Unified School District officials on Monday defended their bilingual education classes as legal and helpful to students.

The April report, which came after years of controversy over how the district teaches its Spanish-speaking students, battered officials for overemphasizing bilingual classes.

District policies, the report concluded, have slowed student progress and run afoul of a state law that requires California students to be taught in English unless their parents request a waiver.

District officials and some trustees angrily dismissed the report as ideological and biased.

As required, the district submitted its public response to the grand jury and Frederick Horn, presiding judge of the county Superior Court.

In the response, Supt. Al Mijares rejected the allegation that the district had compromised student learning or broken state law.

“We are committed to providing the best education for our students,” Mijares wrote. “The acquisition of English is a non-negotiable part of their education in this school district.”

The debate over bilingual education has been a contentious one in Santa Ana, where more than two-thirds of the 60,000 students are designated as “English learners.”

The issue was at the center of the 2003 recall of Trustee Nativo V. Lopez, accused by many of encouraging schools to flout Proposition 227.