The Loudoun County School Board’s proposed fiscal year 2009 operating budget contains a massive increase in spending on English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction which dwarfs the percentage increases in other areas of the schools budget (and in the overall Loudoun County operating budget as well). In fact, in real terms the proposed ESL budget of $20,682,481 is 34% higher than proposed school expenditures for English, Mathematics, Science, Physical Education, Music, Foreign Languages and Gifted/Talented Education combined ($15,341,354).

As the Washington Examiner reported last week, Prince William County public schools reported over 600 ESL students left the system following that county’s crackdown on illegal aliens. This reduction of students would equate to a roughly $8 million reduction in expenses for the school system alone. Verifed and anecdotal evidence (from the news story and what we have seen here in Loudoun) suggests many of those illegal aliens have headed north into neighboring jurisdictions.

A decrease of 600+ ESL students is a huge shift, which suggests strongly that a large number of Prince William’s illegal immigrants had been sending children to school in Prince William County. To a significant extent it appears the effect has been moving north – here – to Loudoun County.

As Loudoun School Superintendent Ed Hatrick notes below, 63% of ESL students in this county come from households where Spanish is the primary language spoken at home. According to national surveys also detailed below, the vast majority of Spanish-speaking immigrants who have arrived here in the past ten years and / or are not fluent in English are here illegally. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to assume that the increase in ESL students in Loudoun County public schools is directly related to the influx of illegal immigrants in Loudoun County.

In fact, to make the only alternative argument – that Loudoun County has seen a massive influx of LEGAL Spanish-speaking immigrants in recent years – would fly in the face of all statistical data as detailed below. There is no controversy or national debate over legal immigration from Latin America. The entire debate is over the reality of illegal immigration. The incredible increase of Spanish-speaking households in Loudoun County – as politically incorrect as it is to say so – is certainly a result of illegal immigration.

Bottom line: Loudoun County’s legal residents are paying for the children of illegal immigrants to attend our public schools.

It should also be noted that ESL as it is practiced in Loudoun County Public Schools is conducted according to the principles of “structured immersion.” What this means is, instruction is conducted in both English and Spanish. There is a fair amount of leeway as to how this can occur. In the optimal case, students are taught primarily in English. However, in practice this mode of instruction allows for substantial instruction in the “primary language” – which means both printed materials and classroom instructors in Spanish language.

The objection taxpayers may have to “structured” immersion is that it puts a lot of money into accommodating foreign language speaking students in order to move them ahead grade-wise. It is not necessarily sink or swim in English; it can mean setting up a parallel course of instruction at every level which is exponentially more expensive and definitely detracts from spending on English-language instruction. Basically, taxpayers are paying for courses to be taught in multiple languages.

While I am not privy to Loudoun County’s procedures, the question remains whether Loudoun County taxpayers are funding Spanish-language instruction in our public schools while the expenses are skyrocketing and other priority areas are suffering.

The key question is whether Loudoun County taxpayers are paying for the education of people who should not be here in the first place, and whether those people are paying into the tax system. Yes, illegal aliens pay sales tax. We would ALL like to have that deal, because sales tax is a pittance. The truth of the matter is illegals have a huge advantage in living here “off the books” except for the fact they can send children to our schools.

The Supreme Court has said – so far – that once the illegals are here, we have to pay for their education. What this entire Loudoun County budget discussion should evoke is a discussion over whether they should be here at all in the first place, considering our fiscal situation.

Most residents familiar with the Loudoun County fiscal situation know that spending on schools represents the largest part of the overall county budget. (Summary here.)

In the current proposed FY2009 budget, the schools expense of $781,701,000 comprises 67% of the total county budget figure of $1,163,651,000.

Compared to actual expenses of the 2007 fiscal year, spending on schools in FY2009 would increase about 29%, from $606,465,800 to $781,701,000. During the same period, the budget for “general government” – meaning the entire remainder of what Loudoun County does – is set to increase by $43,301,352, about 13%, from $338,648,648 to $381,950,000.

After factoring in cost increases related to employees’ cost of living and higher prices, the general government budget includes about $7.5 million in “enhancements,” in part to provide additional personnel to serve a growing county population (see Executive Summary, page E-15).

In other words, all of the new stuff in the 2009 Loudoun County budget accounts for $2 million less than the increase in proposed ESL spending. What does that say about our priorities? What would the typical Loudoun taxpayer say about that, I wonder?

Now let’s turn our attention to the proposed FY09 budget proposed by the Loudoun County School Board.

Schools Operating Budget Document here

Schools

FY07 Actual: $606,465,800
FY09 Proposed: $781,701,000

29% increase
$175,235,200

Additional $128 million requested by the School Board for capital expenditures

English as a Second Language (p. 72)

FY07 Actual: $11,290,148
FY09 Proposed: $20,682,481 – 337.5 full time employees

83% increase
$9,392,333

It is worthwhile to recall that in 2004 the ESL expense figure was $5,633,606 – the amount proposed for this year represents a 265% increase over five years, or $15,048,875.

Gifted Education (p. 84)

FY07 Actual: $6,693,480
FY09 Proposed: $9,122,106 – 73 full time employees

36% increase
$2,428,626

Foreign Languages (p. 80)

This consists of Grades 1-6: Spanish
Beginning in Grade 7: French, German, Latin, Spanish, PLUS Spanish for Fluent Speakers (I & II, with level III to be added in 2009)
Beginning in Grade 9: Mandarin Chinese addition to the above

FY07 Actual: $512,733
FY09 Proposed: $799,255 – 3 full time employees

56% increase
$286,522

Health and Physical Education (p. 88)

FY07 Actual: $390,818
FY09 Proposed: $532,006 – 3 full time employees

37% increase
$141,188

Mathematics (p. 110)

FY07 Actual: $657,989
FY09 Proposed: $983,225 – 4 full time employees

49% increase
$325,236

Music (p. 118)

FY07 Actual: $842,711
FY09 Proposed: $1,607,430 – 3 full time employees

91% increase
$764,719

Science (p. 145)

FY07 Actual: $758,095
FY09 Proposed: $1,295,294 – 4 full time employees

71% increase
$537,199

“Regular Education” (p 133)

FY07 Actual: $242,245,675
FY09 Proposed: $311,622,664 (3486.9 full time employees)

29% increase
$6,9376,989

It is important to note that the school budget document includes a massive amount of spending on ESL relative to other areas of the Loudoun County public schools curriculum. Part of this imbalance can be explained as a function of how the numbers are reported. Expense for teachers is included in the “Regular Education” line item, for instance, so it is safe to assume that some of our Science and Math investment is included in this line item. However, ESL is also included in “Regular Education”.

So while the schools department may argue that that we’re spending more on Math and Science than is detailed in those budgets, we must also conclude that spending on ESL is similarly expanded in the “Regular Education” budget.

I called the school department and spoke with a communications representative for about 10 minutes recently, in an attempt to figure out how the expenses were actually being divied up between the departmental line items – in which ESL spending is so exorbitantly higher than most other educational areas – and “Regular Education.”

The staff member could not explain why there was such an amazing discrepancy, and said she would have a higher-up employee contact me. No one has called. What this suggests to me is that Loudoun County Public Schools spending on ESL has increased exponentially relative to other areas of the curriculum, and our investments in English, Math, Science, etc. have been suboordinated to spending on bilingual education.

Overall county budget

Sheriff’s Office

FY07 Actual: $57,744,306
FY09 Proposed: $70,390,000

22% increase
$12,645,694

Fire and Rescue

FY07 Actual: $42,514,705
FY09 Proposed: $49,683,000

16% increase
$7,168,295

Health Services

FY07 Actual: $4,013,121
FY09 Proposed: $4,779,000

19% increase
$765,879

Mental Health

FY07 Actual: $27,571,867
FY09 Proposed: $30,954,000

12% increase
$3,381,133

Family Services

FY07 Actual: $30,770,934
FY09 Proposed: $32,651,000

7% increase
$1,880,066

Parks, Recreation and Community Services

FY07 Actual: $27,603,459
FY09 Proposed: $32,929,000

18% increase
$5,325,541

Extension Services

FY07 Actual: $516,962
FY09 Proposed: $580,000

12% increase
$63,038

As we can see, the increase in ESL spending would result in a much higher investment than in other areas of the County budget.


Background information

School Board Q & A with Ed Hatrick:

P 45: Middle and high school ESL classes are provided with appropriate English language materials as well as textbooks in which language and academic content are taught.

P 46 Why are we not using an immersion strategy for ESL students?

As reference on page 72 in the FY09 Superintendent’s Proposed Operating Budget document, the ESL program in Loudoun County uses a structured English language immersion approach. Approximately 63% of the ESL students are from Spanish speaking households; the remaining students speak 88 other languages. English is the common (immersion) language for all students. Instruction by ESL teachers is provided in English.


Data From Other Sources:

UPDATE: As our friend and always spirited debater Laura V has asked in the comments, How do we know the students who left the Prince William County ESOL program were illegal or the children of illegal aliens?

My response is, it seems like a safe assumption. But don’t just take it from me or your own common sense, here is WJLA’s take:

It’s illegal for schools to ask immigration status, but the assumption is many of the ESOL dropouts are in the country illegally or even more likely, they are children of illegal immigrants.

Honestly, I would be surprised if that was not Laura’s assumption as well.