Dale Kildee: “Bilingual education, as has been pointed out by the gentleman from Michigan, is the only Federal assistance program…”

“Bilingual education, as has been pointed out by the gentleman from Michigan, is the only Federal assistance program designed to help State and the school districts to meet the needs of students with limited English proficiency. I would suggest the gentleman read the bilingual section of this 902-page bill, where it gives the purpose of bilingual education. I helped write this purpose of bilingual education in a bipartisan way with people like Steve Bartlett and John McCain, when he was a Member of the House. It is the purpose, the bill reads, of this title, to help ensure that limited English proficient students master English and develop high levels of academic attainment in content areas. That is the purpose of bilingual education. We recognize that it would be a terrible social failure, a terrible educational failure, for a student to finish school not being proficient in English. Bilingual education, as written in this bill, recognizes that.”