By James Crawford

Its death was not unexpected, following years of attacks by enemies and recent desertions by allies in Congress. Title VII, also known as the Bilingual Education Act, was eliminated as part of a larger "school reform" measure known as No Child Left Behind, proposed by the Bush administration and passed with broad bipartisan support.

Indeed, the lack of controversy was striking. Conservative Republicans dropped an attempt to mandate Englishonly schooling, as voters have done in California (1998) and Arizona (2000). Meanwhile, liberal Democrats made little effort to block the transformation of the Bilingual Education Act into the English Language Acquisition Act. Not a single member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, once a stalwart ally of Title VII, voted against the legislation.

Senate Democrats exacted a price for their agreement to repeal Title VII, and funds will be increased about 50 percent. The impact of the increase is unclear, however, given that the money will be spread more thinly than before. Under No Child Left Behind, federal funds will continue to support the education of English language learners (ELLs). But the money will be spent in new ways, supporting programs likely to be quite different from those funded under Title VII. One thing is certain: the rapid teaching of English will take precedence at every turn. "Accountability" provisions, such as judging schools by the percentage of ELLs reclassified as fluent in English each year, are expected to discourage the use of native-language instruction. Annual English assessments will be mandated, "measurable achievement objectives" will be established, and failure to show academic progress in English will be punished.

This marks a 180-degree reversal in language policy. Whereas the 1994 version of the Bilingual Education Act included among its goals "developing the English skills ... and to the extent possible, the native-language skills" of LEP students, the English Language Acquisition Act stresses skills in English only.

In keeping with this philosophy, the word bilingual has been expunged from the law, except in a provision that strikes the name of the federal Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs (OBEMLA). It now becomes the Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited-English-Proficient Students (OELALEAALEPS), not even a pronounceable acronym.