Committee members heard testimony concerning the role of Ebonics, or African-American Vernacular English, in educating African-American students. The Oakland school board originally passed a resolution which seemed to call for education of students in Ebonics as a first language and later revised it to call for the recognition of Ebonics as a bridge to learning standard English. The witnesses included several representatives of the Oakland school district as well as the originator of the term, “Ebonics,” and several other language experts. The testimony focused on whether Ebonics is a language, vernacular, dialect or grammatically incorrect English, whether it is the best way for African-Americans to learn standard English and whether the program should receive federal funds.