ABSTRACT
In statewide polls, Californians continue to identify education as one of the most important issues facing the state.1 This should come as no surprise, considering that California is home to the nation’s largest public school system, serving 5.7 million students. Public schools are the nexus of all community issues and concerns: civic responsibility, cultural literacy, tolerance, job skills, economic growth, and crime are all related to the state’s educational system. In addition, schools provide the initial point of access to civic institutions and political bureaucracy. This is true for children, as well as for adults with children. As a consequence, schools have become the battleground for civic discourse. This has been abundantly illustrated over the past several years with school busing in the 1970s, Proposition 13 (1978), and a trio of more recent ballot initiatives: Proposition 187 (1994), Proposition 209 (1996), and Proposition 227 (1998).
