Latino, Asian Ratios Gain in City Schools

The percentages of Latino and Asian-Pacific ethnic enrollment continued to climb last year in the San Diego Unified School District, while percentages of African-American and white students continued to decrease, according to latest figures released.

The number of Latino students is now 27.4% of the total student count, or 32,886 of about 121,000 district students. That compares with 30,405 students, or 25.6% in 1989-90, and represents a consistent upward trend over the past several years.

The number of white students declined to 37.1% of the district total, or 44,535, a drop from 39%, or 46,212 students, in 1989-90. The percentage was 43% in 1988.

The number of Asian-Pacific students increased from 18.6% to 18.9%, or from 22,157 to 22,985 students. The category includes Filipinos, Indochinese, Asians and Pacific Islanders, with Filipino and Indochinese totals each about 9,480 students, or 8% each.

The percentage of African-American students decreased slightly, from 16.2% to 16.1% of district totals, although their numbers rose a little, from 19,272 students to 19,386.

The ethnic trends for Latinos are even more pronounced at elementary grade levels, where the district’s largest enrollment increases have occurred during the past several years.

Latino students account for 29.1% of all elementary students; whites, 36.2%; African-American, 16.5%, and Asian-Pacific, 17.4%. Elementary enrollment accounts for 58% of the district’s total enrollment.

White enrollment has declined from 80,000 in 1976 to the current 44,535, while nonwhite totals have skyrocketed from 41,000 to 76,000, compounding district problems to maintain court-mandated integration programs and putting greater pressure on teachers to increase achievement of Latino and black students, who lag behind Asians and whites.

Teacher hiring data for last year, however, shows that the district’s instructional staff continues to remain overwhelmingly white, despite attempts to hire more teachers of color.

During the past year, the district hired 753 teachers, of whom 166, or 22%, were nonwhite. The number represented a 2% drop, or 46 teachers, in the number of minority teachers hired in 1989-90.