State Senate Votes to Let Public Schools Require Uniforms : Education: The measure is billed as an effort to discourage gang membership. Critics say it would create friction between parents and children.

Legislation giving public school officials the power to require students to wear uniforms on campus was approved Monday by the state Senate.

Billed as an anti-gang measure, the bill was sent to the Assembly on a 28-6 vote by an unusual coalition of conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats.

Traditionally, bills that would allow schools to impose uniforms on public school children have met hostile receptions in the Legislature. But Sen. Phil Wyman (R-Tehachapi), author of the latest bill, said long-held attitudes seem to be changing.

Under the bill (SB 1269), local school boards would be authorized to enact a uniform policy agreed on by principals and parents on a school-by-school basis. The bill would apply to all grade levels. For poor students, the uniforms would be provided by private sources, such as civic groups or parent-teacher organizations.

Students whose parents refused to dress them in uniforms could not be denied access to the classroom, according to the bill, but they could be assigned to schools that did not require uniforms.

Wyman said the measure is needed because current state law establishing student dress codes is unclear on whether the wearing of uniforms is authorized.

Wyman, a conservative, maintained that uniforms have helped students in private schools focus on learning by eliminating distractions such as trendy and costly clothing. He said officials in some public schools are eager to adopt a similar requirement.

Sen. Teresa Hughes (D-Inglewood), a liberal who is often at political odds with Wyman, signed on as a co-author. She said that uniforms would give students a sense of school pride at a time when they are being influenced by gangs, while reducing fierce peer pressure to wear expensive fashions.

But Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) deplored the wearing of uniforms as a “misplaced attempt to regain control over our kids.” He said imposition of uniforms would serve only to aggravate an “inevitable friction” between children and their parents.

Another critic, Sen. Charles Calderon (D-Whittier), warned that the bill would serve the purposes of conservative Christian activists who, he said, want to “impose their puritanical view of life” on public schools.

Wyman dismissed Calderon’s criticism as ridiculous. He said the bill was sought by parents and officials of tiny Lamont school district near Bakersfield, whose enrollment is mostly Latino.

He said many of the parents had attended parochial schools as children and felt uniforms helped provide a better learning environment. Wyman said those parents want their children “to have the opportunity. They (are) concerned about gang problems and the safety of their children.”

He said some supporters of public school uniforms believe a uniform has the effect of granting a “safe passage” to children wearing a “neutral coat of arms” through gang neighborhoods.

Wyman told the Senate that Lamont administrators wanted to require uniforms, but were warned by attorneys that doing so could invite an expensive lawsuit.

He said he introduced the bill to give school administrators power to enact a uniform requirement without fear of being sued for exceeding their authority. He said Long Beach school officials support the bill because they intend to require the wearing of uniforms next term.