Latinos Outnumber Anglo Enrollment

Latino student enrollment in the Long Beach Unified School District has surpassed Anglo enrollment for the first time in the district’s history. Of the 71,462 students enrolled last fall, nearly 32% were Latino, while 28% were Anglo, 19% black and 15% Asian, according to figures released this week.

The latest racial and ethnic breakdown did not surprise officials in the state’s third-largest school district, where the number of Latinos has steadily grown.

“It’s been building. Everybody knew it was coming,” said Lew Prilliman, the district’s research director.

District officials recently adopted a series of measures to help its growing non-English-speaking population. But community activists complain that the district has not done enough to hire bilingual teachers or offer more services for its Latino and Asian students.