Schools Add Citizenship to Curriculum : Immigrants: L.A. district will use federal funds to offer test preparation classes. Officials hope parents who benefit will take a bigger role in their children’s education.

The Los Angeles Unified School District announced Wednesday that it plans to launch a massive citizenship preparation drive this month for people who became legal U.S. residents nearly five years ago under the federal immigration amnesty law.

The program, which could be delayed if there is a teachers strike, is to consist of 60 hours of instruction needed to pass U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service citizenship tests and will be paid for with $2 million in federal money allocated through the state under the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, district officials said.

The law allowed 1.6 million undocumented immigrants in California to apply for legal status, a large number of them in Los Angeles County. This year, most of them will fulfill the five years of residency required to apply for citizenship.

The district program also is aimed at an estimated 1.7 million immigrants living in Los Angeles County who are eligible for citizenship but have not sought it.

Similar programs are planned in districts across the country, but the one operated by the Los Angeles schools will be the largest, said Ed Morris, a district spokesman. In addition to the $2 million already allocated for the program, he said, another $4 million is expected.

At a news conference Wednesday, district and elected officials said the program will allow tens of thousands of parents to take part in important decisions about the district’s future when they vote for school board members.

One of the issues is the breakup of the district, which has been proposed by some parents and elected officials in the San Fernando Valley.

“We strongly believe that if our parents become U.S. citizens, they become investors in the educations of their children,” said Leticia Quezada, school board president.

A main aim of the program, she said, is “to empower the parents of our students.”

City Councilman Richard Alatorre sounded a similar note.

“Decisions are being made about the future of our children, yet the parents do not have a voice,” he said. “The best way (to change that) is not just to be a statistic but a statistic that has the right to vote.”

Asked why people eligible for citizenship often do not apply, Quezada cited ignorance of what steps to take, fear of tests and a belief by many that they will return to their native countries.

Officials said that the preparation program--which will be free of charge--will provide instruction in Spanish, Korean and Chinese. The program will be aggressively advertised in the local ethnic and foreign-language media, they said.

The classes are scheduled at 27 adult education sites in Los Angeles County, usually at high schools.