Under State Attack, Oakland Revamping Bilingual-Ed. Program

By Lynn Schnaiberg

After experiencing a partial freezing of state bilingual-education aid, the Oakland, Calif., school district is planning by Nov. 1 to present a plan for improving its frequently criticized programs for limited-English-proficient students.

In an action that was not made public until last week, the California education department in July froze part of Oakland's bilingual funding, citing continuing shortcomings in the 52,000-student district's services for its 14,000 L.E.P. students.

A portion of the district's bilingual funding--estimated at $4.9 million--was withheld because the school system was still out of compliance with numerous state and federal regulations on bilingual education a year after a state audit, according to Norman C. Gold, the state...