This article analyzes the public rhetoric during the November 2002 vote over bilingual education in Colorado and Massachusetts. We argue that the neoassimilationist views displayed in both states represent a new step in the evolution of assimilation theory and ideology--one that has adapted to both the current immigrant environment and to multicultural criticism. In Colorado, where the bill English for the Children failed to pass, the print media reveals a far greater tendency toward assimilation; in Massachusetts, multicultural values are used far more often as a defense for bilingual education programs, even though the bill overwhelmingly passed.