Dear Language Advocates and Supporters:

Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee considered and passed the Labor HHS and Education funding bill. Although some education priorities were protected, the bill zeroed out ALL funding for the Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP). This means that for the next fiscal year there will be no funding for new FLAP programs and possibly none for current FLAP grantees. FLAP is the only existing K-12 national program for language learning. 

In the big picture, the elimination of FLAP demonstrates a lack of commitment to teaching foreign languages in US schools at a time when our nationb them to compete in a global economy. Meanwhile other countries have made language a high priority b students to study language for at least nine years. Cutting FLAP also flies in the face of Department of Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, who is urging the US to prioritize language for national security interests.

Zeroing out all K-12 language learning in fiscal year 2012 means that the opportunity for thousands of children to learn another language will be jeopardized or eliminated as school districts struggle under tight fiscal constraints. To add to the distressing news b to its previous funding level in the Senate bill.