Texas Educators Protest US Role in Bilingual School Aid

WASHINGTON—A group of Texas education officials complained Thursday to Congress that federal auditors are hurting their bilingual education programs by finding numerous problems with them and ordering that federal funds be repaid.

In one extreme example, the Edgewood district near San Antonio, one of the poorest in the nation, has been threatened with bankruptcy, said Rep. Carl Perkins, D-Ky., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.

W.N. Kirby, deputy commissioner of the Texas Education Agency, said a federal law setting up inspector general investigations of how districts use funds for bilingual education “has hurt the situation, rather than helping out.”

Kirby said the legal process is costing districts enormous sums, and asked Congress to change the process.

Education Department auditors have charged seven Texas districts with gross neglect and demanded that funds already used be paid back.

The programs are aimed at teaching language skills to school children whose primary language is not English.

The inspector general findings were attacked by officials of Edgewood, San Antonio, Dallas and Pharr-San Jose-Alamo school districts. William Elizondo of San Antonio said of his visit by Education Department auditors, “The people who came in didn’t even know what bilingual education is supposed to be.”

Inspector General James B. Thomas defended the work of the auditors, saying they “concluded that the federally funded programs had not achieved the expected program results.”

In each case, they found “substantial non-compliance” with the law and regulations, he said.

Perkins reacted with sarcasm, addressing Thomas as “Mr. Inspector General” and leaving the room during part of his testimony.

“We have to teach the inspector general not to shoot from the hip. Your auditors don’t care how many people’s money they waste,” Perkins said. “They should get together with the people in the districts to go over plans and programs and catch any mistakes before it is too late.”

Perkins said an effective inspector general would look at money as it is being paid, rather than later when it must be repaid.



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