During interviews with the small number of parents who took their children out of the alternative school, we heard comments praising the school for striving for academic excellence but also criticisms for a too-rigid uniformity. In effect, these parents said that the district had created a private school run with public funds. As one parent said, 

Another parent agreed: "They promise you that the curriculum is good for everybody, but the slow kids get left behind. And they don't want to deal with special needs kids."

Plus, there are the added work opportunities later in life, not to mention better pay. Outside Quebec, bilingual men earn on average 3.8 per cent more than their unilingual counterparts, according to a 2010 study out of the University of Guelph. Bilingual women, meanwhile, earn 6.6 per cent more on average. Within Quebec, those numbers are even more pronounced. Given those figures, it's easy to understand the mania surrounding immersion.

In 1977, more than a decade after French immersion's introduction, the program enrolled 45,000 students across the country. That number steadily increased to more than 342,000 students by 2011. "I'm not even sure that number even accurately reflects what the real demand is, because the constraint on availability is classroom spaces, teachers and resources," says Lisa Marie Perkins, former national executive director of Canadian Parents for French, a non-profit volunteer advocacy group. "If there weren't things like lotteries and caps, I think you'd actually see the numbers being greater."

Brito referenced a 2010 George Mason University study that found that math and reading test scores improved among students who participate in dual-language programs. Other studies indicate that the success of such programs hinges on how effective the bilingual teachers are in the classroom, and bilingual teachers can carry high salaries.

The richer the family, the more likely their kids will be immersed in French, according to figures from a Toronto District School Board study. In 2009-10, 23 per cent of all French immersion students came from families in the top 10 per cent of income. Meanwhile, only four per cent of French immersion students came from the bottom 10 per cent of family income.

"The program is open to lots of people, but it gets whittled down," says Nancy Wise, a French immersion educational consultant and former special education teacher in the York region, just outside Toronto. "If you can't cut it, you probably fall into one of these categories: [you're a] new Canadian, this is your third language, you've got some learning challenges, or there's a socio-economic factor. They jump on it in the schools and show them the door -- and it's just not right."

Over the past 20 years, on average approximately 235,000 immigrants have come to Canada each year, and more than 80 per cent of them speak neither French nor English as a native tongue, according to Statistics Canada. One-third of allophone students -- those whose mother tongue is neither French nor English -- reported their school discouraging their enrolment in a French secondlanguage education, according to a 2008 study commissioned by Canadian Parents for French.

"New Canadians, or those who speak languages other than English at home, are told something along the lines of: 'English is enough of a challenge for you and your family. Why don't you stick to the English language program?' " Wise says. "There's no research evidence to support that kind of discouragement." But it happens.

Will Jawando, who also worked for the U.S. Department of Education and recently lost a race for Congress in the Democratic primary, argues in the complaint that the high-performing Maryland school district violates federal law in the way it recruits and selects its language-immersion students.

The school system fails to publicize the opportunities in areas with high percentages of black and Hispanic students - or to "conduct meaningful outreach" - and many parents are unaware that such options exist, according to the complaint, which Jawando filed this week.

"As a result, many of the high-demand language immersion programs enroll disproportionately high numbers of white, non-poor students, while denying benefits of the program to otherwise interested and qualified students of color and those from lower-income families," it says.

The complaint asks the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights to investigate, and it requests that the school system be required to enter into an agreement to expand access to, and better serve, African American and Hispanic students in elementary language-immersion and other special academic programs.

The bid for federal involvement comes shortly after a new report on school choice in Montgomery County documented stark racial and ethnic disparities in a number of special academic programs, including language immersion. In recent months, school officials have hosted community forums, and parent reaction has been strong.

Montgomery school officials said in a statement Thursday that they could not comment on the specifics of the complaint but that it highlighted the great demand for the program. Nearly 700 kindergartners applied for about 300 language-immersion spots this year, they said.

The school system is reviewing the report's recommendations, which will be considered by the school board. The complaint is "just one of hundreds of community comments" generated by the study, officials said, and the district will continue to work with the community on the issues raised.

An Education Department spokesman said the Office for Civil Rights does not publicly confirm whether it has received specific complaints; if an investigation is opened, the office informs those involved and the public as appropriate.

Language-immersion slots in Montgomery are awarded by lottery, but siblings of elementary students already enrolled get automatic admission - a practice the district's report said leaves fewer seats for others and "hindered equity of access."

Districtwide, 31 percent of elementary enrollment was white, compared to 47 percent in immersionprograms in 2013-2014, according to the report.

Jawando said he and his wife only heard about the district's language-immersion programs through a chance conversation at their daughter's soccer game a few days before the application deadline in April.

The couple rushed to meet the deadline, wanting their daughter to become bilingual as early as possible. Jawando said in his complaint that research links language learning to higher academic achievement. Their local school in Silver Spring - Cannon Road Elementary - does not offer foreign language classes.

But their daughter was not selected for the Spanish-immersion program at Rock Creek Forest Elementary, a school where the district's report said more than 45 percent of 2013-2014 immersion applicants were siblings.

Jawando appealed the decision to school officials in May but has not heard back. He said he filed the complaint this week with the Office for Civil Rights because he believes the issue reaches well beyond his family's experience.