Over the last 2 decades, the number of school-aged children with limited English proficiency in the nation has grown dramatically, increasing from less than 1 million in 1980 to more than 3.5 million in 1998. Despite small rates of growth in the total enrollment of all K-12 children, the enrollment of school-aged children with limited English proficiency across the United States grew exponentially between school years 1989-90 and 1997-98 (see fig. 1). While California, Florida, New York, and Texas continue to have the largest number of children with limited English proficiency (see fig. 2), other states that previously had small populations of such children have experienced large increases in recent years. For example, in Alabama, Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, and Tennessee, the number of children with limited English proficiency more than doubled between school years 1992-93 and 1997-98 (see fig. 3). In 1968, the Congress passed the Bilingual Education Act (BEA). The purpose of the BEA is to educate students with limited English proficiency so that they can reach the academic standards expected of all students. The 1994 reauthorization of BEA created the four bilingual education grant programs—Program Development and Implementation Grants (PDI), Program Enhancement Projects (Enhancement), Comprehensive School Grants (Comprehensive), and Systemwide Improvement Grants (Systemwide)—to distribute funds directly to school districts serving children with limited English proficiency. These are the only federal programs that specifically target instructional services to children with limited English proficiency. In addition to the four federally funded bilingual education programs authorized by the BEA, other federal programs also address the special needs of these children though they do not exclusively target this population. For example, Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which gave $8.7 billion in fiscal year 2000 to assist school districts educating disadvantaged students, is the largest federal program that includes support for children with limited English proficiency.However, most services for children with limited English proficiency are funded with local and state—not federal—dollars. Education’s Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs (OBEMLA) administers the four competitive bilingual education grant programs. The cost of administering these programs is funded through Education’s program administration account, while funding for the program grants is included in OBEMLA’s program budget. The bilingual education programs do not receive separate appropriations from the Congress; rather, OBEMLA receives a single budget appropriation to fund programs authorized by the BEA. (See app. I for a listing of all programs funded by the single budget appropriation.) During the grant competition cycle (approximately 4 to 6 months long), application forms are reviewed and scored based on applicants’ responses to the selection criteria (see app. II). The applications for the four programs are very similar and are organized into two main sections. The first section requests such information as a proposed summary budget, a detailed itemization of proposed annual expenses, and student data including the language groups and number of both limited English and English-proficient students to be served. The second section, the bulk of the application, is a narrative in which applicants describe the proposed project by demonstrating how it meets the selection criteria established by Education. Although the application forms and the selection criteria for all four programs are very similar, school districts and schools use the application to describe projects tailored to their specific local needs. School districts may submit applications to receive funding from more than one of the programs. At the end of the grant competition cycle, Education ranks the applications and awards funding to grantees. OBEMLA’s management plan contains safeguards to prevent individual schools from receiving funding from more than one bilingual education program. In fiscal year 2000, Education funded approximately 28 percent of the 665 applications it received. According to OBEMLA staff, the following number of grants were awarded in fiscal year 2000 to school districts to serve children with limited English proficiency: 18 Systemwide grants averaging $551,000 each; 75 Comprehensive grants averaging $245,300 each; and 92 PDI grants averaging $156,200 each. No Enhancement grants were awarded in fiscal year 2000. In coming years, Education plans to award a greater proportion of the grants to schools in the early stages of developing and implementing new programs. Congressional interest in the BEA has centered on the appropriate federal role in meeting the special needs of children with limited English proficiency. The 107th Congress is considering several bills as it deliberates BEA reauthorization in fiscal year 2001. One bill recommends the elimination of the four grant programs and another seeks to significantly increase funding for bilingual education programs and consolidate the four programs into a single grant program. The President’s budget proposes to implement changes in bilingual and immigrant education that would consolidate all currently funded bilingual and immigrant programs, as well as the Foreign Language Assistance program, into a single flexible performance-based state grant program. All four federal bilingual education programs share the same performance goals and measures, possess similar eligibility criteria, and allow similar uses of program funds (see table 1). The four programs target students with limited English proficiency in kindergarten through 12th grade. The overall objectives of these four programs are to provide bilingual or special alternative education programs to children with limited English proficiency and to help such children reach high academic standards. Under each program, students’ achievement is measured biannually to determine if they have demonstrated continuous progress in oral and written English, as well as in language arts, reading, and math. LEAs are eligible to apply for funding under the four bilingual education programs; however, only LEAs with high concentrations of such students are eligible to apply for grants from the Comprehensive and Systemwide programs. LEAs may collaborate on their grant applications with institutions of higher education, community-based organizations, and state education agencies. All four programs also permit the use of funds to provide instructional services and materials, professional staff development for teachers and teacher’s aides, and family education programs. The PDI and Enhancement programs require specific uses of funds; the Comprehensive and Systemwide programs permit funds to be used on services from any of the above broad categories. Only the Systemwide program specifically authorizes services at the school district level, such as those associated with grade promotion and graduation requirements. All school districts and schools receiving funds must coordinate with other relevant programs and services to meet the full range of needs of participating students. The legislative purpose and grant length of the four bilingual education programs also vary. For example, PDI grants are to be used to develop and implement new bilingual education programs. According to Education officials, school districts typically submit applications to the PDI program if the population they intend to serve is new to a community and the students are relatively close in age. The purpose of the Enhancement program, according to the legislation, is to expand existing bilingual education programs. In practice, however, differences between the PDI and Enhancement programs have not been apparent to grantees. Education officials said that the types of programs described in the applications submitted by some school districts are the same for both the PDI and Enhancement programs. School districts typically submit applications to the Comprehensive program if the students they intend to serve are concentrated in one school but are disbursed throughout several grades. School districts typically submit applications to the Systemwide program if students with limited English proficiency of all ages attend schools throughout the district. Both the PDI and Enhancement programs make what are considered short-term grants because they provide funding for 2 to 3 years. Both the Comprehensive and the Systemwide program grants provide funding for 5 years. OBEMLA officials awarded grants to school districts with similar characteristics that provided similar services; however, individual schools typically did not receive funding from more than one bilingual education program. Our review of grantee files confirmed Education officials’ estimate that 80 percent of grants funded projects in elementary schools, and approximately 70 percent of the children served by the programs spoke Spanish as their primary language. A majority of grants funded in fiscal year 2000 went to school districts in states with historically high concentrations of students with limited English proficiency (see fig. 4). However, according to agency officials, Education has begun to award an increasing number of grants to school districts in states that until recently had small numbers of such students. According to Education officials, grantees receiving funding under each of the four programs provided similar services to their students with limited English proficiency. The services provided with program funds fell within three broad categories: instructional activities and materials, professional staff development for teachers and teacher’s aides, and family education programs. However, the precise nature of the services varied by district and school. For instance, some school districts chose an English-based instructional approach to teaching students with limited English proficiency, while others made more extensive use of the students’ native language (bilingual approach). Although schools receiving funds were similar in many respects, according to our file review, there is little evidence to indicate that individual schools received funding from more than one bilingual education program (see table 2). Even in instances where school districts received multiple grants, they were distributed so that individual schools typically did not receive funding from more than one program. On the basis of our file review and discussions with grantees and Education officials, we learned that while large school districts located in New York City and Los Angeles County were among the proportion (18 percent) of school districts receiving funding from more than one bilingual education program, individual grants were targeted to different schools within these large districts. The effectiveness of the four bilingual education programs on a national level is unknown because locally collected data are not comparable. The BEA requires local assessments of student outcomes, and leaves the choice of assessment tests to the local program.