Developing Policy Narratives: Blacks, Whites, and Latinos in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

This paper examines the development of policy narratives in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Based on the ideas of policy design (Schneider and Ingram) and policy images (Baumgartner and Jones), I show that a broader “policy narrative,” which is built on a policy image and its supporting rhetoric, can be a very powerful motivator among residents in a particular geographic region. In this case, the city’s three largest ethnic groups—whites, blacks, and Latinos—each used different narratives to justify their positions on school desegregation policy. Blacks and whites focused on the language of academic quality and race relations to explain why they did or did not support busing for desegregation. Latinos attempted to join the primary black and white narratives, but were not able to reframe either discussion to fit their own community’s needs. Because they were never a significant part of the discussion, Latinos today, though they comprise the vast majority of the district’s students, do not benefit from post-desegregation district policies as much as the other two groups do. Thus, not only can policy narratives be developed and used by the general public (as opposed to political elites), but a group’s skills in using these narratives can also have a significant impact on the level of resources they later gain from public institutions. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]