Parents lobby School Board not to cut bilingual program

Latinos worry classes will be part of budget cuts

Waukesha — Fearing that proposed budget cuts would threaten the School District’s bilingual education program, members of the Hispanic community met Tuesday with Superintendent David Schmidt and other officials.

About 50 parents, many of whom brought along their children, attended the meeting at White Rock Elementary School, 1150 Whiterock Ave., to discuss more than $1.4 million in proposed budget cuts under consideration by the School Board.

Echoing the sentiments of parents at the meeting, Abel Morales asked whether cutting busing for the bilingual program was again under consideration as it had been when this year’s school budget was considered.

” Last year, we looked at (cutting) busing for all bilingual students, but this year that is not the case,” Schmidt told the parents.

However, Schmidt said the district was considering eliminating busing next fall for students who choose to attend White Rock but not in the bilingual program. That move could affect as many as 20 children, he said.

School administrators have blamed the district’s financial woes on state-imposed revenue caps, which tie a district’s annual budget increases to inflation and enrollment. Waukesha’s enrollment has decreased in recent years, and teacher and staff compensation increases have outpaced the district’s ability to raise revenue.

Parents who spoke at the meeting were against any of the proposed cuts.

“Don’t cut any of the programs,” Estela Ramos said. “Our children are the future of Waukesha. “

Ramos said the Legislature should be willing to help alleviate the budget situation.

“We have been in this situation twice already, and now they say that we can expect cuts in the future,” Ramos said. “Do we have to pay something for public school?”

Last year, the School Board raised fees and made cuts to cover an anticipated $3 million shortfall for the current school year. For the 1999-2000 school year, the board had to make about $1 million in cuts.

Parent Maria Zermeno was also against any cuts.

” I’m for increasing taxes, but something that is stable,” she said, adding that many Hispanic families are already living paycheck to paycheck.

After the meeting, Manuel Martinez reinforced that by saying that Hispanic families tend to have lower salaries. He said families would have a harder time transporting their children to school if busing were ever cut because many have one car or no car at all.

Under the latest proposed cuts, schools stand to lose the equivalent of more than 34 staff positions, including some librarians, part-time custodians and high school reading specialists.

District officials also have suggested saving money by getting rid of some voluntary testing, by postponing furniture replacement, and by reducing middle school co-curricular activities, summer school, busing and some special education services.

“Some of the reduction will affect you personally, some of them will not,” Schmidt told the parents. “All will affect the big picture.”

Schmidt said Tuesday’s meeting, which included translators, was organized after White Rock’s parent-teacher group initiated a similar meeting last year.

“It was somewhat of an afterthought last year,” Schmidt said of the meeting. However, “we do have a responsibility to meet with people who don’t speak English. We just overlooked it last year.”

White Rock is a major site for the district’s bilingual program, and about 380 students are enrolled at the school. Most of their parents do not speak English or are not fluent in it, officials said.

Several other district schools have bilingual programs and services that are less extensive than White Rock’s.

Schmidt also informed the parents that the School District plans to hold a referendum on April 3. That referendum will ask voters for $24.4 million to pay for building improvements and $4.9 million annually to exceed state-imposed revenue caps.



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