Thread: English learners are increasing

English learners are increasing
Feb. 22, 2007 12:00 AM

MESA - The number of students classified as English-language learners in Mesa Public Schools has more than tripled over the past decade, impacting the way schools hire staff, train teachers and instruct students.

The number of English learners has climbed from 2,913 eight years ago to an estimated 9,109 this year, a rise of 213percent, according to records. At the same time, the school district's overall enrollment has slipped the past two years.

For each student classified English learner under state law, as deemed by a language-proficiency test, the district gets about $400 in state funding. Attorneys are continuing to battle in federal court over whether the state provides adequate funding for the students. advertisement

This year in Mesa, English learner enrollment is up by about 670, or 8 percent, over last year.


http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... s0222.html

bump

I relate to this post...

United Way did a survey about our school families at a recent board meeting that I attended. It was shocking. Seventy-seven percent of our kindergarteners speak a foreign language this year. A significant amount of families our at the poverty level, have little education, don't speak English, on and on.... I sat there dumbstruck for the future of my city. Mono-lingual teachers are loosing their jobs. Adminstrators have made several junkets to Spain to recruit teachers.

Absolutely maddening...

Fedup, what is the reaction of teachers who are losing their jobs? Is there anything they can do to fight this? It seems to me if this is happening on any kind of scale, there should be a huge backlash.

Here is what I was told. It takes four years to get tenured in Illinois. If a young eager teacher is not tenured they are dumped first. Have no recourse really. If they're not needed, they are not needed... It's one of the dangers of teaching -dropped for no reason or a scary reason like this (not enough English speaking children left). I haven't spoken to any of these teachers noyoucannot -but I bet they are PISSED.

The tenured teachers are then moved around. And finally if there is no position for them they can be let go.

My children go to a long established respected school with an excellent magnet fine arts program. However, this year we had a kindergarten bilingual. More classes are coming next year. Who will be kicked out we are wondering. The principal is talking about starting a dual-language program.

It would be a damn shame if I had to move out of my beloved hometown because there is no acceptable monolingual school left for them...

Thanks, fedup. I'm sorry to hear that things are that far gone in your school district. It is just so very, very wrong.

So, with 9109 Spanish speaking, English illiterates... err, excuse me, English language learners costing the state at least $400 per pupil, that equals an amount that the state taxpayers have to foot for the invading illegals and anchor baby children of $3,643,600. Yeah, there's no way the taxpayers or the schools could use over 3 AND A HALF MILLION DOLLARS for other needs for the LEGAL American population.

And that's just in one small district, the Mesa public schools. Add in the entire state of AZ, heck, the entire country, and that must add up to BILLIONS OF DOLLARS. Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars being spent on special treatment and extra instruction for the masses of children being cranked out and smuggled in by the invading aliens.. oh pardon me, future housekeepers and landscapers.

Of course, this doesn't even count the costs we already pay for the illegal alien kids who do know how to speak English, this is extra funds we have to pay just for those they consider English language learners.

Reptile, when you talk about the "billions," that is just on that element of the classroom. Don't forget that it is also "mandated" that all these students as low income earners also qualify for meals provided to each student, including breakfast. What do you think this costs taxpayers?



Published: 01.02.2007

More schools should expand free breakfasts
Our view: Investing in such programs for all kids boosts their ability to learn and may pay off in economic development
Breakfast is often called the most important meal of the day. Many schools offer free or reduced-price breakfasts to children who qualify based on family income. But a few Tucson area schools, such as Los Ranchitos Elementary in the Sunnyside Unified School District, have expanded the free breakfast to all students.
Of course, the breakfasts that are free to the students aren't actually free — they're paid for with tax dollars. But the benefits reaped in children's health and education is worth the investment.
Los Ranchitos is offering breakfast to all of its students, regardless of whether they qualify under the federal free and reduced-price meal program. Two Marana Unified elementary schools — Desert Winds and Roadrunner — do the same, but serve it in the classroom. Marana's director of food service, James Remete, told Star reporter Jeff Commings that he saw the approach be successful in Phoenix and Texas, and decided Marana could benefit, too.
Ideally, kids would eat a full breakfast at home before arriving at school. But that's not reality for many Tucson children — and insisting that it should be doesn't do anything to help kids who come to school hungry. Making a nutritious breakfast available to all students ensures that they are in the best possible position to learn and be productive in school.
According to a report by the Food Research and Action Center, the federal breakfast program fed 7.7 million low-income children in the 2005-06 school year, yet only two in five kids who need the help are receiving it.
In Arizona, nearly 40 percent of students eligible for free and reduced-price breakfast ate at school last school year, a slight drop from the year before. Local districts are right to try to increase those numbers.
Nearly 65,000 Tucson area students qualify for free or reduced-price breakfast, according to figures from the Arizona Department of Education. Every school district offers discounted breakfast and lunch to its students except Catalina Foothills School District. The need isn't confined to one part of town or specific schools. And the response shouldn't be, either. All children can benefit from a nutritious breakfast.
Critics of these kinds of family assistance programs like to point out that people shouldn't have children they can't afford, that parents, not taxpayers, should provide for their kids. Or they employ the I-had-it-hard-and-didn't-have-any-help approach, with the assumption that one person's experience is universal.
These arguments ignore the obvious — the kids are already here, and some of them are hungry for reasons beyond their control. Many of the families who qualify for free breakfast and lunch are working families but still are considered low-income. It's immoral to punish the child for the circumstances or decisions of the parent.
A 1998 study by Tufts University School of Nutrition Science and Policy found that proper nutrition is necessary for a child's physical growth, but also that inadequate nutrition harms a child's intellectual and cognitive development.
Many critics of free-meal programs also miss the bigger picture. Money invested in meal programs for kids pays off in the long run through improved education and eventual carryover into economic development.
When companies look for places to build or relocate, they want to know about a city or state's education system. Arizona does not fare well in many of those comparisons. The state doesn't adequately fund public education, and it's common knowledge that, statewide, dropout rates are high and standardized-test scores are low to average. There are, of course, standout districts and schools, but corporations also want to know if they will have a well-educated worker base from which to hire. Sadly, often the answer is no.
Arizona is growing, and people are moving here in droves with the education system in place now. But for a state's economy to remain strong, its education system must be solid. And federal programs like free breakfast and lunch, in their own way, help allow Arizona children to perform at their best. Local districts are right to try to expand participation in the free-breakfast program.
"It's not a solution to the problems in America's schools, but it's the fastest, easiest, cheapest way of boosting school performance that we have," said James Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center. "It's the closest thing schools have to a magic bullet."
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/162650


P.S. You are probably also aware that they are building new elementary schools all over the place, like it is going out of style due to the growing "non-english" speaking baby boom this country is experiencing.

I just heard the other day that Texas hired 120 teachers from Mexico!!Its in every occupation now isn't it. And we just keep paying and paying and paying.
This is such a great point to get across to Senators when we call, that we are sick of paying for Mexico's poor!!We can't take it anymore we are drowning out here.