Proposition 209: The Painful Morning After

Now that affirmative action programs in the public sector have been outlawed by the passage of Proposition 209, all Californians face a troubled morning after.

The disagreeable and unavoidable fact is that 209 eliminates hard-won educational and job opportunities for women and persons of color. The victory of 209 also sends a message, intended or not, that the wildly disparate distribution of opportunities for education and job advancement in this state will not be addressed, at least by government.

There is corrective action that can and must be taken immediately. By banning college outreach and tutoring programs that target groups most underrepresented in higher education, 209 now should obligate the state to expand these programs so that there are enough resources to serve all high school students in California.

Let us set a clear and immediate standard and see whether it is met: Double state and private funding for college outreach programs to high school and junior high school students within the next two years. When Gov. Pete Wilson proposes his state budget in two months, we all will know whether his words about colorblind social justice are going to be matched by action.

Of course, the challenge is much more fundamental and goes well beyond outreach programs. Critics of affirmative action, left and right, are partly correct when they say that it has been little more than a Band-Aid that masks a large and growing disparity between the children of the wealthy, whose lives are rich with opportunity, and the children of the poor, who face violence, shabby services and low social expectations every day of their lives.

Our fundamental commitment must be to ensure a better future for all young Californians. We must increase our investment in them to give them respect and hope. We need to break through lines of liberal and conservative ideology and come to a set of practical steps that both Democrats and Republicans can support.

What might be the specifics of such a bipartisan commitment?

* An expansion of paid community service, so that many more young people can earn money by improving their neighborhoods and learn vital skills.

* An examination of drug prevention and intervention programs and the willingness to expand the implementation of such programs through community outreach.

* Provision of low-cost or free health care and nutrition programs for children from families who can’t afford them.

* Vigorous support for parenting skills programs and application of community-based discipline when youngsters show the first signs of criminal behavior.

* More investment in schools for curriculum improvement, professional development of teachers, decent facilities and equipment and parent participation for our most economically disadvantaged young people, while maintaining expectations for high academic achievement.

* Scholarship programs that help break the anti-achievement culture of too many low-performing schools by depositing funds in individual college accounts for students who take and pass college preparation courses.

The aftermath of 209 will be long and painful. The action that California takes now, or fails to take, will ultimately dwarf the import of the words of 209 itself.