News in Brief: A State Capitals Roundup

The California Supreme Court has refused to consider an appeal from two school systems that sought districtwide waivers of Proposition 227, a voter-approved initiative that required state schools to replace bilingual education with English immersion.

The state's highest court left intact a ruling by a state appellate court in October that the Berkeley and Hayward districts could not seek waivers of the law's requirements. A county superior court had ruled in favor of the districts in 1998, but the appellate court overrode that decision.

The supreme court's refusal to consider the districts' appeal means students will be able to receive bilingual education only at the request of individual parents, said Rae Belisle, the staff counsel for the...