California Proposition 21, Elimination of Racial and Ethnic Imbalances in Schools Initiative (1972)

California Proposition 21
Election date November 7, 1972
Topic Education and Race and ethnicity issues
Status Approved
Type Initiated state statute	Origin Citizens

California Proposition 21 was on the ballot as an initiated state statute in California on November 7, 1972. It was approved.

A “yes” vote supported prohibiting public school students from being assigned to a certain school because of their race or ethnicity, repealing the section of the Education Code which considers factors of race and ethnicity to try to avoid racial and ethnic imbalances in schools, eliminating the provisions in the Education Code which require schools to report their racial and ethnic makeup, and eliminating the provision that requires schools districts to develop plans to remedy ethnic and racial imbalances in their student population makeup.

A “no” vote opposed prohibiting public school students from being assigned to a certain school because of their race or ethnicity, repealing the section of the Education Code which considers factors of race and ethnicity to try to avoid racial and ethnic imbalances in schools, eliminating the provisions in the Education Code which require schools to report their racial and ethnic makeup, and eliminating the provision that requires schools districts to develop plans to remedy ethnic and racial imbalances in their student population makeup.

Election results

California Proposition 21
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		4,962,420	63.05%
No		2,907,776	36.95%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Proposition 21 was as follows:

“

Assignment of Students to Schools

”

Ballot summary

The ballot summary for this measure was:

“

Initiative. Adds section to Education Code providing: "No public school student shall, because of his race, creed, or color, be assigned to or be required to attend a particular school." Repeals section establishing policy that racial and ethnic imbalance in pupil enrollment in public schools shall be prevented and eliminated. Repeals section which (1) establishes factors for consideration in preventing or eliminating racial or ethnic imbalances in public schools; (2) requires school districts to report numbers and percentages of racial and ethnic groups in each school; and (3) requires districts to develop plans to remedy imbalances. Financial impact: None

”

Full Text

The full text of this measure is available here.

Support

Arguments

• State Assemblyman. Floyd Wakefield (R-52): "Children will be separated from their families and the family unit will be destroyed."
• President of the Solano County Board of Education, Ken Brown and Orange County Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Robert Peterson: "We oppose mandatory busing for the sole purpose of achieving forced integration. A policy based on this objective destroys the neighborhood school concept while at the same time squanders tax dollars which are desperately needed to upgrade our educational standards for all students, regardless of race, creed or color."

Opposition

Arguments

• Californians Against Unequal Schools and Education: "It pretends to be an absolutely color-blind, but its consequence would be to freeze hundreds of thousands of black, Mexican-American and other minority children in the inferior segregated schools to which they are now assigned,"
• President of the School Boards Association, John Cimolino and President of the League of Women Voters, Erna Schuiling: "School districts should be encouraged to local new school sites in order to prevent severe racial impaction. Other such long-range plans can be made by districts with the cooperation of the State Board of Education."

Path to the ballot

See also: Signature requirements for ballot measures in California

In California, the number of signatures required for an initiated state statute is equal to 5 percent. For initiated statutes filed in 1972, at least 325,504 valid signatures were required.

See also

1972 Measures

• 1972 Measures
• Education on the ballot
• Race and ethnicity issues on the ballot
• 1972 legislative sessions

California

• California ballot measures
• California ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• California Voter Guide (November 1972)