A month later, the state Board of Education quietly dropped another proposed graduation requirement: that students take at least three years of a language.

The reasons?

Too much cost and not enough teachers.

But critics say the move is shortsighted because graduates will need to speak more languages to compete in an increasingly global economy.

"We are putting our children at a disadvantage," said Thekla Fall, a retired Pittsburgh language supervisor and a leader in the campaign to require language study. She berated board members for "talking out of both sides of their faces," dropping the language requirement while setting more rigorous standards in other subjects.

Former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, who chairs Strong American Schools, a school-improvement group, said language ability was a key to the future.

"We are in global competition for jobs," said Romer, a past Los Angeles school superintendent. "Most graduates from the high school systems throughout the world have two languages at least. That's the competition our graduates are going to face."

The board's move leaves Pennsylvania behind New Jersey, where all students must study a language through eighth grade, and next year's graduates must have passed one year in high school. New Jersey is one of only five states with a language graduation requirement for all students.

Pennsylvania does not require students to take any languages, but requires districts to offer at least two languages in grades seven through 12, with a four-year sequence of at least one. How many students take them depends largely on the district. Wealthy and high-achieving districts where most students go on to college offer more languages and graduate more students with multiple years. Poorer districts generally offer fewer courses, and many students don't take them.

Some districts set their own graduation policies that require languages.

Philadelphia students must pass two years of a language, but the offerings are meager. Nearly two-thirds of the district's 53 regular high schools do not offer three or more years of any language.

While he supports more language instruction statewide, Karl Girton, the state board's chairman, said requiring students to reach a low intermediate level of language ability would be too costly.

An estimate said the proposal would cost $114 million in salaries for 2,700 new teachers. "This would be a rather horrific unfunded mandate," Girton said.

Besides, he said, the board wants to improve basic skills, and "I don't think most people would say that a world language requirement fits in with . . . the definition of basic skills."

Girton added that many students who needed language for college got it. The board estimates that 76 percent of college-bound students take two or more years of a language, the requirement at many four-year colleges.

State Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak said the state was not tackling languages now because "we want to start with fundamentals. We are getting push-back even for that."

State Sen. Raphael Musto (D., Luzerne), the Education Committee's minority chairman, said he supported a language requirement because "we are in a situation where a student will be put at a disadvantage because of the school he or she is attending. Our businesses tell us to prepare our students for the world we're facing. We need to answer that call."

Language study plays a big role in some Pennsylvania suburban districts, such as Chester County's prosperous and high-achieving Tredyffrin/Easttown. This school year, 87 percent of seventh through 12th graders are taking a world language, and 90 percent of seniors have taken three or more years of one. All grade-school students start with Spanish, and in sixth grade they rotate through French, German, Latin and Spanish classes.

"Our community thinks of languages as an important part of an education," said Oscar Torres, a district curriculum supervisor. "They believe it is a skill our students will need in the future."

Other districts reported much lower numbers in an Inquirer survey.

Five percent of seniors in Pottstown's district this year had three or more years of a world language; in Upper Darby, the figure is 9 percent.

Pottstown spokesman John Armato and Upper Darby Assistant Superintendent Louis DeVlieger said half or more of the students took two years of a world language but then chose other courses.

Pottstown, which offers four years of high school Spanish and French, used to have more language offerings and a middle school program but cut back because of "dollars and cents," Armato said.

In contrast, 76 percent of seniors in Burlington County's Cinnaminson School District took at least three years of a world language, one of the highest rates in the region.

New Jersey generally has more students taking a language than Pennsylvania - 63 percent to 45 percent - largely because of state-mandated elementary programs.

In Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburbs, just 16 of 64 districts teach a world language in elementary school. Three are voluntary before- or after-school programs. Philadelphia has world-language programs in 10 of 177 elementary schools.

While some Pennsylvania districts are adding elementary languages, Haverford, Wallingford-Swarthmore and West Chester are dropping them to make more time for science, math and reading.

Delaware County's Springfield district has been expanding its elementary language program to encourage more students to go to college. About 60 percent of high school students have taken two years of a world language, the same percentage who go to a four-year college. "We tell them, 'If you want to go to a four-year college or to a more competitive college, you have to take the harder way,' " Assistant Superintendent Rina Vassallo said.

Students at Springfield High School were divided about a state language graduation requirement.

Sophomore Bill Tashjian said language should be an elective. He said he did not think a language was as important to high school graduates as "math, engineering or science - things you have to know in the real world."

Junior Mallory Sminkey said "you can't just assume that other people will speak English," adding that the United States is "a multicultural society, a melting pot. We have to get along with each other."

Girton said he recognized that there was a great inequity in language offerings, especially between Philadelphia and its suburban districts. He described it as "simply not a tolerable way to do business."

In Philadelphia, 30 of 53 high schools offer only one language, and 34 offer two years or less. Also, 34 high schools reported that 10 percent or fewer of their seniors took three or more years of a language; 19 reported zero. What the district offers prepares any student who wants to go to college, said Cassandra Jones, acting chief academic officer.

In the Pennsylvania suburbs, every high school offers at least four years of two languages.

More resources would make a difference, Girton said. A goal outlined in the board's "Costing Out" study last fall is to equalize funding among districts. The study called for a $4.4 billion funding boost, including $870 million more for Philadelphia.