Grant for bilingual program in Dearborn cut after much debate

A message was sent to the U.S. Department of Education on June 27 that Dearborn does not want its application for bilingual funding considered.

After several lengthy public discussions, careful reading of the grant application and meetings with school principals, the Board of Education decided to recall the grant application. The application had the potential of bringing up to 1 million per year for five years into the district for its bilingual education program.

It is routine for the district to apply for federal funds for bilingual education. In 1994-95, the district received 350,000 in federal aid. State and local funds also support the program.

The district’s federal grant cycle was up and it needed to reapply for funding. Now it cannot apply for the same federal grant for five years. School officials had already planned on a least the 1994-95 level of federal funding to augment the bilingual program.

Now cuts will have to made in the program, said Margaret Weertz, district communications coordinator. She said Superintendent Jeremy Hughes did not yet know what would be impacted by the decrease in funding.

What made the grant application controversial was the inclusion of a new approach to bilingual education called the dual language method.

In that method, children are taught for half the time in their native language and the other in English. The hope is that the children will learn faster if they can pick up the concepts in the native language, translate them into English and eventually learn English as well.

Under the rescinded grant application, this program would have been on a pilot basis at Salina School and would have started with a kindergarten class the first year.

A similar program is underway at Becker School, which had to apply for federal funding with the new approach advocated by the government. Becker opened in the middle of the federal funding cycle and applied for funds separately. The school board was not aware at the time Becker applied that the new dual language approach would be used at the school.

After much discussion, the board had staff take the dual language portion out of the current application, even though that reduced the chances of funding. They did not get to see the final draft of the grant until the Friday before the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The document was due May 30.

The board indicated at its meeting on June 26 that, after a more careful reading of the document, some of the dual language elements were still included. Weertz said the majority of the board members were uncomfortable with some of the language in the application. Cathy Creely was the only one who voted against recalling the application.

Another reason the board recalled the grant application was that elements included in the application would increase the district’s costs in the future. Teacher training, for instance, was one of the costs.

The board explained itself in a prepared statement.

“If the request were to be granted as submitted, the growth of the program and its staff, based upon the criteria described, could leave the district without the substantial funds to support the grant.”

The district has budgeted 3.8 million in local funds for bilingual education in 1995-96. The board knows it has an obligation to provide bilingual services and members support helping children who need them.

However, the grant, as written, would have required local contribution of 4.7 million in that same year.

Increases of more than 600,000 in the budget in each of the following two years, an increase of more than 756,000 in the fourth year and an increase of 318,000 in the final year would be required.

By the end of the grant period, the district would be paying more than 7.1 million for bilingual education out of its own funds and possibly some state funding, according to the grant application.

John Waldner, district business manager, said the rate of increases for the bilingual program is not that high under normal circumstances.



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