Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Dual-immersion funding threatened
Posted By Stephen Dark on March 6, 2012, 11:30 AM
Twenty-three schools in Utah are waiting to see today or tomorrow if their dual-immersion language programs will be lost.---
Without at least $800,000, schools across Utah face losing courses for elementary students that provide teaching for half a day in English and half a day in another language. Five languages are taught as part of the various dual-immersion programs throughout the state, principally Spanish and Mandarin.
Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, chair of the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee, put out a statement late last night criticizing the failure of the Executive Appropriations Subcommittee to not prioritize Utah's dual-immersion program. "A thousand first-grade students will be denied a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in Utah's dual-immersion program and lose the great opportunity of a bilingual education."
Dual-immersion classes, the statement noted, if begun in the first grade, not only greatly assist foreign language acquisition, but also have been shown to improve students' "performance in other core subjects over their non-immersion peers."
City Weekly contacted world-language specialist Gregg Roberts at the Utah State Office of Education for his take on the potential cut. He e-mailed that he was hopeful the money would be restored today or tomorrow.
The schools that face cancellation of their dual-immersion program are:
Alpine School District
Alpine Elementary- Chinese
Riverview Elementary- Chinese
Rocky Mountain Elementary- Portuguese
Box Elder School District
Foothill Elementary- Chinese
Charter Schools
American Leadership Academy- Spanish
Renaissance Academy- Chinese
Granite Schol District
Valley Crest Elementary- Spanish
Iron School District
East Elementary- Spanish
Jordan School District
Herriman Elementary- Spanish
Welby Elementary- Spanish
Murray School District
Parkside Elementary- Portuguese
Park City School District
Jeremy Ranch Elementary- French
McPolin Elementary- Spanish
Provo School District
Lakeview Elementary- German
Washington County School District:
Arrowhead Elementary- Chinese
Horizon Elementary- Chinese
Three Falls Elementary- Chinese
Hurricane Elementary- Spanish
Red Mountain- Spanish
Weber School District
Bates Elementary- Chinese
Freedom Elementary- Spanish
Davis School District
Farmington Jr. High- Spanish
Legacy Jr. High- Spanish
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