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Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
I am pleased to appear before the Committee today to testify on the fiscal year 1997 budget request for Bilingual and Immigrant Education. Bilingual programs assist school districts in developing high-quality programs to teach English to limited English proficient students and help these students meet the same challenging State standards as all other children. According to the Census, this population grew by 27 percent during the past decade. While California, New York, and Texas continue to enroll the majority of these students, States such as New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts registered a significant increase in the number and concentration of limited English proficient students during the decade. For the 1993-94 school year, States reported a total of 2.8 million limited English proficient students.
These students want to learn English and will do so quickly if they are provided with an effective instructional program. It is interesting to note that, between 1980 and 1990, the number of children who speak a language other than English at home grew by 1.8 million, but most of this increase was among those children who speak English very well. The Census indicates that of those children who speak a language other than English at home, a higher percentage spoke English very well in 1990 than in 1980. I consider this to be evidence, at least indirectly, that bilingual programs are making a difference.
The Immigrant Education program is also in this account. This program provides assistance to school districts that enroll large numbers of recent immigrants. These funds help offset the fiscal burden on school districts with concentrations of immigrant students.
The account also includes the Foreign Language Assistance program, which assists States and local educational agencies in implementing high-quality foreign language instructional programs, particularly at the elementary level. Prior to this fiscal year, these funds were requested in the School Improvement Programs account.
For Instructional Services, our request is $7.8 million less than the 1996 tentative conference action amount. We propose this reduction to offset the request for restoration of funding for Support Services and Professional Development at their 1995 levels. While the reduced level for Instructional Services will fund an estimated 184 fewer grants than in fiscal year 1996, the number of students served will increase by an estimated 200,000, because nearly 80 percent of Instructional Service funds would be used for Comprehensive School and System-wide grants that have a lower per-pupil expenditure. These two activities strongly support systemic educational reform of services for limited English proficient students.
For Support Services, our request is $14.3 million, to restore these activities to the 1995 appropriation level. Although the tentative 1996 conference action provides no funding for Support Services, 53 States need funding to enable them to work with schools to improve the quality of bilingual programs. Funds are also needed for the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education to make data available to practitioners on effective bilingual services. The request also would provide funds for 24 grants to disseminate information on instructional and professional development models that are validated by a State review process. Funds are also requested for continuation of a major study documenting how LEAs serve limited English proficient students and how services are changing as a result of systemic educational reform.
The $25.2 million requested for Professional Development would restore funding for 118 preservice and inservice projects at colleges and universities and almost 300 fellowship awards. Tentative 1996 conference action would provide no funding for these activities. A recent study showed that schools have great difficulty in finding appropriately trained staff. Another recent study showed that our professional development programs are extremely effective in preparing teachers to teach in bilingual classrooms; this study found that 77 percent of the participants in the program subsequently obtained employment in bilingual education.
My colleagues and I will be happy to respond to any questions you have regarding the 1997 budget request for the Bilingual and Immigrant Education programs.
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