According toBallotpedia, "Proposition 227 changed the way that "Limited English Proficient" (LEP) students are taught inCalifornia. Specifically, it
RequiredCalifornia public schools to teach LEP students in special classes that are taught nearly all in English. This provision eliminated "bilingual" classes in most cases.
Shortened the time that most LEP students stayed in special classes.
Eliminated most programs in the state that provided multi-year special classes to LEP students by requiring that (1) LEP students move from special classes to regular classes when they had acquired a good working knowledge of English and (2) these special classes not normally last longer than one year.
Required the state government to provide $50 million every year for ten years for English classes for adults who promised to tutor LEP students.[3]
The bill's intention was to educateLimited English proficiency students in a rapid, one-year program. It was sponsored byRon Unz, the runner-up candidate in the 1994Republican gubernatorial primary. The proposition was controversial because of its close proximity to heated political issues includingrace,immigration, andpoverty. The methods of education enacted by the proposition reflected the electorate's support ofassimilation overmulticulturalism. It passed with a margin of 61% to 39%.
On September 28, 2014, the state legislature passed, and GovernorJerry Brown signed, Senate Bill 1174, which addedProposition 58 to the November 2016 ballot.[4] Proposition 58, which repealed most of Proposition 227, passed by a margin of 74% to 26%.[5]
The number of bilingual credentials fell after Proposition 227's passage. ACalifornia Department of Education spokesperson anticipated a shortage of bilingual teachers after the passage of Proposition 58.[6]
