The bilingual education battle in California began in 1976, when the state Assembly enacted the Bilingual-Bicultural Act. But the state Board of Education determined that it was legally obligated to enforce the law.
Orange County has the only school districts that received waivers.
Magnolia School District receives temporary waiver. Savanna School District receives temporary waiver shortly thereafter. Orange Unified School District petitions for waiver. Santa Ana teacher Gloria Matta Tuchman and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Ron Unz place an initiative on the 1998 ballot that would dismantle the state's bilingual-education law. Hispanic coalition files lawsuit, hoping to block Orange's bilingual waiver.