Bilingual Education Gets Increase for FY1999

Here's the deal....

In the omnibus budget package that passed Congress on October 17, spending for Title VII programs totaled $380 million. An extra $26 million was added to what House and Senate had appropriated – most of it for bilingual teacher training – thanks to pressure from the Clinton Administration.

     1997     
actual		      1998     
estimated		 1999
appropriated
Instructional services

141

160

160
Support services

10

25

50
Professional development

5

14

14
Foreign language assistance

5

5

6
Immigrant education

100

150

150
Total

261

354

380

House Republicans also dropped their insistence on several legislative "riders" that would have limited students' participation in Title VII programs to two years (with provision for two one-year extensions), lifted the 25 percent "cap" on funding for special alternative (English-only) programs, and given preference to grant applicants who promise the most rapid transition to English.