SANTA ANA – A group of parents and community activists Thursday denounced an Orange County grand jury report this week that criticized Santa Ana Unified School District's bilingual-education program.

About a dozen parents and representatives of Hispanic- rights groups gathered at Iglesia de los Hermanos. They dismissed the grand jury report as biased and unfair because, they said, the grand jurors never interviewed parents.

Monday, the grand jury released the 20-page report accusing the district of failing to follow Proposition 227, the English-only instruction law passed by voters in 1998.

The report concluded that Santa Ana Unified "encouraged resistance" to the law by leading parents to believe bilingual programs are in their children's best interest.

District officials have said state reviews and their own attorneys found the district in compliance with Prop. 227.

While Prop. 227 mandates English-only instruction, it allows students to be taught in their primary language if parents request it and show that their children have "physical, emotional, psychological or educational needs."

The grand jury report "is little more than an opinion piece," said Mary Hernandez of Multicultural Education, Training and Advocacy. "We have to trust parents to make decisions as to what is best for their children." In Santa Ana, a district where 63.5 percent of students are English-learners, bilingual education has sparked debate in recent years. Some parents and school board members have argued that bilingual education makes it harder for students to learn English.

Others have said the program allows parents who speak little or no English to become more involved in their children's education.