As the number of English learners continues to grow faster than that of any other group in the nation's public schools, concerns are mounting that the distinctive needs of those students and the educators who work with them are receiving diminishing attention from the U.S. Department of Education. Even as the federal government spends roughly $750 million a year to help educate a population that's grown to be one out of every 10 students, the department's office of English-language acquisition, or OELA, has seen its clout steadily shrink. In mid-October, the office lost its director, Rosalinda B. Barrera, who was appointed in August 2010 and became the first permanent political appointee in that post since 2008. Before Ms. Barrera stepped down, OELA decided not to renew a $2 million annual contract long held by George Washington University to manage the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition, or NCELA. The office did not explain why it did not renew the contract, and early in the summer, it launched a new competition for the clearinghouse. In late September, OELA awarded the contract to LEED Management Consulting Inc., a year-old company in Silver Spring, Maryland. According to David J. Holbrook, the director of federal programs for the Wyoming education department and the president of the National Council of State Title III Directors, "the clearinghouse is supposed to be a source for what works and what doesn't work for English-language learners. But I think what is going on with NCELA is a symptom of a larger problem."