Take a Look at California’s Public Schools and Their Students*

In 1980, there were 4,119,000 students enrolled in California’s public schools.

Ten years later, there were 4,951,000.

In 2009, 6,252,000 — a 52 percent increase in 29 years.

Of those students, 3,065,00 are Latino — a 189 percent increase.

African Americans are 455,000 of those students — a 21 percent increase.

Asian Americans are 566,000 — a 135 percent increase.

White students have fallen by 18 percent to 1,742,000.

Not surprisingly, this change in demographics has increased the number of students we need to learn English.

There were 326,000 of them in 1980. There were 741,000 of them in 1990 and 1,515,000 in 2009.

That’s a 325 percent increase in 29 years and repsents 24 percent of all public school pupils.

(*These statistics come from the state Department of Education and were compiled by John Mockler, the author of 1988’s Proposition 98 whose formulas determine state financial support for public schools.)

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