Anglo Student Count Down in County, Minorities Up

Anglo enrollment in Orange County schools continued its downward spiral this year, according to figures released this week by the county Department of Education. At the same time, enrollment of minority students has climbed, especially among Latinos and Asians.

This year, Anglo students are 58.6% of the total enrollment in the county’s 28 school districts, down from 61% the previous year. Their number decreased to 205,505 from 211,080 in 1987.

Fifteen years ago, when the Orange County Department of Education first began collecting figures on racial and ethnic breakdowns, Anglo students represented 85.9% of the total enrollment.

The latest figures reflect the challenge many school districts face to educate a broader spectrum of students from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, several educators said, including Dennis Smith, superintendent of the Laguna Beach Unified School District.

Overall in the county, the report shows, the number of Latino students has increased 11%, while Asian student enrollment has increased 5% since 1987.

Even schools with small numbers of minority students are having to spend more resources on accommodating a student body with different teaching needs, said Smith, whose district has the county’s highest percentage of Anglo students at 92.4%.

Yet, even in predominantly Anglo Laguna Beach Unified, “we’re finding a great increase in second-language speakers, particularly in the elementary levels,” Smith said. “We have many challenges in just getting our staff trained and providing good programs to those students.”

The figures, which are broken down by school districts, provide clues as to how Orange County is growing, and where ethnic groups tend to be concentrated.

For example, in the Huntington Beach Union School District, where Anglos make up 67% of the student body, total enrollment has continued to decline. In 1988, total enrollment dropped 7.6% to 15,199 students.

In the Santa Ana Unified School District, where only a tenth of the district’s 40,028 students are Anglo, the district has had trouble keeping pace with the rapid growth.

Andrea Capasso, a statistician for the Department of Education, said those numbers may reflect some communities’ high housing prices, a factor that keeps out many young families. Areas such as Santa Ana, where housing is more affordable, continue to attract families with young children, she said, including many Latino and Asian families.

Areas that are just developing, such as Mission Viejo to the south, are continuing to grow. In those higher income areas, the schools have very few minorities. In the Saddleback Valley Unified School District, for example, Anglo children make up 83% of the total student enrollment of 23,150.

The trend in Orange County, which has been apparent for several years, mirrors what is happening statewide. In September, the state Deparment of Education announced that, for the first time, Anglo students were no longer the majority in California schools. Their numbers this school year make up 49.2% of the total state enrollment, according to a tally conducted just after the start of the new school year.

The Santa Ana school district’s ethnic mix stands out not only among Orange County’s school districts but also in the state. The district must accommodate children who speak 40 different languages.

Betty Poggi, the director of bilingual education in Santa Ana Unified School District, said 51.8% of the students this year are categorized as “limited-English speaking.”

That is a far higher percentage than in the Los Angeles Unified School District, where only 28% of the students are considered “limited English speaking,” and it is the highest of any of the state’s 10 largest school districts, Poggi said a recent state report shows.

“Los Angeles’ total enrollment is so much higher than ours, which means that we are much more heavily impacted across the board (by students with special needs) than they are,” Poggi said.

RACIAL CHANGE IN SCHOOL ENROLLMENT

Following a statewide trend, Anglo enrollment in Orange County schools continues to decline.

Percent % of Total Enrollment 1987 1988 Change 1987 1988 Anglo 211,080 205,505 -2.6 61.2 58.6 Hispanic 83,721 92,949 +11.0 24.3 26.5 Black 6,564 6,776 +3.2 1.9 1.9 Asian 37,680 39,464 +4.7 10.9 11.2 Pacific Islander 1,530 1,680 +9.8 0.4 0.5 Filipino 2,511 2,754 +9.7 0.7 0.8 American Indian 1,883 1,775 -5.7 0.6 0.5 & Alaska Native

Source: Orange County Department of Education