By: kelly chaudry  (Page 2/6)

The language barrier faced by so many immigrants was formally addressed when Bilingual Education became an official program in 1968 with the passage of the Bilingual Education Act, Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This legislature provides that Limited English Proficient (LEP) students or English Language Learners (ELL) must be educated and given extra services or assistance in acquiring the English language so that they are able to attain an education that is equivalent to their English-speaking counterparts. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had previously addressed segregation and equality but not specifically the language of many minority groups. This was not addressed until the May 25 ^th Memorandum, which modified Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to include provisions protecting the rights of national origin, language minority persons.

In Texas, the enactment of House Bill 103 solidified Bilingual Education programs. Although there were a few programs that existed prior to the mandate, the first 76 Bilingual Education programs were implemented in 1969. The bill was not effective, however, because there were no funds allocated to the development and accountability of the programs. The enactment of Senate Bill 121 in 1973 mandated and allocated funds for implementation. It was later struck down by the English Only Rule. Several court cases followed these rulings. The most legendary court case includes Brown vs. the Board of Education, which promoted the desegregation of public schools. An additional landmark case is Lau vs. Nichols in 1974. The Lau decision by the U.S. Supreme Court was that children who could not understand the language of instruction were effectively excluded from the educational process and were, therefore, denied access to quality education ( Lau vs. Nichols , 1974).

There are 36 states nationwide that have legislative provisions for funding LEP student instruction. Nineteen states list no separate program of aid to local districts for serving LEP students, and a handful of states note that Bilingual Education is a responsibility of the federal government under Title VII (Baker&Markham 2002). Additional funding for bilingual programs is available from many sources. Federal funding comes mostly from Title III, previously known as Title VII grants. According to the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE, 2002), federal Bilingual Education funding increased to $685 million in 2002. The Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs (OBEMLA) also states that $20 million is available in Language Acquisition State Grants for Bilingual Education every year, and 25% of all grant money automatically goes to those schools that have the most LEP students (Education Commission of the State [ESC], 2003). In Texas, the projected figure for Language Acquisition Grants in the fiscal year 2003 was $62,018,328 (NABE, 2002). In addition to this, many districts receive Title II funds from the U.S. Department of Education that provide assistance to districts in recruiting and training quality teachers and principals.