QUICK HITS (USE THIS!!!)Facing an outcry from some Asian-American groups and shifting support in the Legislature, a state lawmaker on Mon backed off efforts to repeal California'due south ban on affirmative activity programs in university admissions.

Senate Ramble Amendment No. 5, proposed by Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, stalled in the Assembly and was returned to the Senate without boosted action. The measure would take asked voters to again allow race-based preferences in university admissions, overturning part of Proposition 209, the 1996 ballot measure that banned affirmative activeness programs.

The proposal passed the Senate in January, but Asian-American advocacy groups have been outspoken in opposition to the measure, saying it would go out Asian students at a disadvantage when considering applications from minority groups that are underrepresented in academy admissions.

And terminal week, three Asian-American senators who had supported the bill wrote to Associates Speaker John A. Perez and ask that information technology be stopped, the Sacramento Bee reported.

"'Prior to the vote on SCA v in the Senate, we heard no opposition to the bill. However, in the past few weeks, we take heard from thousands of people throughout California voicing their concerns about the potential impacts,' Sens. Ted Lieu of Torrance, Ballad Liu of La Canada Flintridge and Leland Yee  of San Francisco wrote to Perez on March xi," the Bee reported.

In a articulation statement, Hernandez and Perez said the Legislature volition instead convene a commission to written report admissions, recruitment and retention bug at state colleges. The numbers of African-American, Latino and American Indian students admitted to the Academy of California plummeted after Prop. 209 took effect.

"We look frontward to working with the commission, both in Sacramento and in meetings around the land, as they appoint in these important discussions with the expectation of putting forward recommendations that could be approved either legislatively or past vote of the people as nosotros seek to ensure that California'due south campuses remain centers of opportunity for every Californian," the argument said.

(From the wayback motorcar: "Has Prop. 209 saved the states or or failed us?" Coverage of the 10th anniversary of Proffer 209 from the Oakland Tribune, November. v, 2006)

Michelle Maitre covers career and college readiness. Contact her  and follow her on Twitter @michelle_maitre . Sign upwards hither  for a no-cost online subscription to EdSource Today for reports from the largest education reporting team in California.

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