Bob Barr: “I rise today in support H.R. 3892, the English Language Fluency Act. Every child in the United States deserves a change…”

“I rise today in support H.R. 3892, the English Language Fluency Act. Every child in the United States deserves a change to learn the English language so they may take advantage of the extraordinary opportunities this nation has to offer. Our schools are now overwhelmed by the high number of immigrant enrollments. The current Federal Bilingual Education Act is too restrictive and extremely ineffective. The current law's lack of proper tracking and accountability has led to some perverse incentives. Rather than developing programs that teach English effectively so that students are quickly able to move into mainstream classes, schools have an incentive to keep as many students in bilingual education for as long as possible, in order to receive extra funding. H.R. 3892 is committed to the goal of English fluency. H.R. 3892 is a responsible and sound piece of legislation which will correct the problems the current Federal Bilingual Education Act has caused. Unfortunately, the federal government currently earmarks 75 percent of its bilingual education funding for programs that teach children in their native language. This simply perpetuates dependency and effectively guarantees many children will not learn English for a long period of time; and perhaps not at all. It is time for legislation which will enhance and provide opportunity for success.”