Funding frozen for bilingual education Delia Pompa, National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) Executive Director, expressed disappointment [on February 5] in the President's proposed budget freeze of $665 million for instructional services for limited English proficient (LEP) students through Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). "Last year NABE worked with a bi-partisan Congress to revamp federal bilingual programs to serve all LEP student's and a key aspect of the following legislation was an increase in funding for the nation's 4.5 million LEP students. Resources were promised to help LEP students learn English. The President's proposed budget, however, woefully lacks the resources he promised when he signed the NCLB one year ago," said Pompa. Bush's plan would freeze spending levels for Title III of the NCLB law at last year's level of $665 million. Fiscal Year 04 (FY04) will mark the third year in a row in which bilingual education has been left behind in the President's budget. Bilingual education is just one of the many casualties of the FY04 budget. In all, the proposed budget would eliminate funding for 47 programs including: dropout prevention programs, migrant and seasonal farmworker education, and after-school services. Many of these are vital to immigrant communities across the land. The LEP population, which reached 4.5 million last year, accounts for nearly 10% of the total public school population. It is rapidly increasing and the current level of $665 million is just not enough for educators to live up to the reforms outlined in the new law. The ability for teachers to ensure proficiency in English is stretched thinner each passing year as the number of students who must be served continues to rise while the resources with which to serve them remains stagnant. "This level of funding is inconsistent with the goals of the No Child Left Behind law. Put simply: the President's mandates cannot be met with outdated funding levels for one of the fastest growing student populations in this country," said Pompa. Provided on the National Association for Bilingual Education website, nabe.org