Court Ruling Keeps Ban on Bilingual Education

Opponents of an English-only public school measure lost another legal challenge Monday when a federal appeals court declined, for a second time, to block it from taking effect.

Proposition 227, a measure that virtually banned bilingual education in California public schools, has prevailed through the federal courts since taking effect in 1998.

Four years ago, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request by bilingual education advocates for an injunction that would have prevented the measure from taking effect. The court issued its written ruling Monday.

The initiative, approved by 61% of the voters, repealed 30 years of policies that allowed California public school students to be taught subjects in their native languages until they were fluent in English.