To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to ensure that funds provided under such Act are not used to promote the teaching or use of regional or group dialects.

March 20, 1997

Mr. STUMP introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to ensure that funds provided under such Act are not used to promote the teaching or use of regional or group dialects.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

(a) FINDINGS- Congress finds the following:

(1) Individuals who speak standard English can secure jobs and function effectively in society in the United States.

(2) Conversely, individuals who are unable to communicate effectively in standard English have more difficulty obtaining jobs, reading publications, securing an adequate education, and otherwise functioning effectively in society in the United States.

(b) PURPOSE- The purpose of this Act is to ensure that students are taught, in public elementary and secondary schools throughout the United States, to communicate in standard English and that a school makes no special effort to promote special or pronounced dialectic idiosyncrasies or regional dialects.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION.

Part E of title 14 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 is amended by adding at the end the following:

`SEC. 14515. PROHIBITION ON PROMOTING REGIONAL DIALECTS.

`None of the funds authorized under this Act may be used, directly or indirectly, for instruction (including teacher training programs), instructional materials, or any other expense related to the promotion of teaching or using dialects peculiar to a region or group within the population of the United States, except that--

`(1) a teacher may be trained and may use and teach foreign languages; and

`(2) a teacher may communicate in his own mode of speech if no special effort is made to teach or encourage students to communicate in such mode of speech.'.