Superintendent Maurice Flores and Assistant Superintendent Betsy Parker from the Kingman Unified School District joined more than 100 school superintendents Wednesday in Phoenix for a rally to convince state legislators to fund the English Language Learners program they made a law in 2006 and which takes effect at the start of next school year.
"We have between 167 and 187 ELL students, and they'll be required to receive English language development for four hours per day," Parker said. "With the model adopted it would cost us between $400,000 and $500,000 to implement. That includes hiring an extra teacher we would keep in the second and third years of the program."
There are 227 school districts across Arizona, and superintendents from 67 of them provided budget figures to legislators.
Administrators also shared concerns regarding the budget forms developed by the state Department of Education, a news release from the Arizona School Administrators Association states. Those forms require districts to deduct from their costs federal funds as stated in the original law.
However, a federal court in Tucson has ruled those deductions can't be required.
The ADE also has made administrative decisions regarding allowable costs that reduce a district's eligibility for funds. The concern is that, while the administrative deductions will reduce state liability, they do not change the real costs that the districts incur in implementing the models. Additionally, the ADE does not want to consider any facility costs that may be generated by the model.
"The forms are lengthy and the big problem is they don't allow you to displace other federal moneys," Parker said. "That's what hurts most."
The ASA estimates funding of the ELL model would cost another $304,178,100. The average cost per ELL student is $2,741.
Superintendents visited legislative chambers, and most were introduced by their local legislators, Parker said.
"We then went to appropriation meetings and individual meetings with legislators," she said. "We spent an hour with Trish Groe."
If legislators do not provide funding for the law, Parker said, "we'll have to be magical problem-solvers."
ELL and funding surrounding it affects both public and charter schools.
Susan Chan, district administrator at Kingman Academy of Learning, said her district presently has no ELL students enrolled.
"We could have them, so I guess it's luck of the draw we have none," she said.
Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, February 04, 2008
Article comment by:
Richard L cavanaugh
Why should we fund an English language course let the country from where they came from or their parents fund it or teach them english themselvies. In other countries in order for you to come to this country you must be 60% efficient in english before coming to this country legally. This is yet another reason why people who live here legally who pay taxes get upset.
