RM> MS> "We are encouraged by what Oakland is doing," Thompson said. 
RM> MS> "If someone could figure out a way we could (get federal funding
RM> MS> to teach Ebonics), boy, we'd be happy with that."
RM> 
RM> Feds said no dice on the funding....
    Count on a lawsuit challenging that.
    The Department of Education publicly stated that the reason it will not 
fund any bilingual program in Ebonics is that Ebonics is not a separate 
language like Oakland designated it, but just a dialect of English.
    Very differently from the proponents of "black English" until now (who 
just contended black English was a dialect of English), Ebonics proponents 
ranging from the Oakland school board to pro-Ebonics linguists are adamant 
that Ebonics is not a dialect of English but a separate language, differing 
as much from English as say, Spanish.  In any lawsuit over whether the 
Oakland program has been denied funds in violation of the existing federal 
laws governing such grants, plaintiff school districts seeking funds will 
call pro-Ebonics linguistics professors to testify that Ebonics is a separate 
language and not a dialect of English.  The federal courts will ultimately 
have to decide whether Ebonics is a "language" for purposes of qualifying for 
bilingual-education funds, and with the "right" judge I think it could 
ppen.
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