Limited English classes costly

CARSON CITY -- Teaching children with limited English skills costs the state $722 million a year, takes instruction time from other students and contributes to Nevada's bottom ranking on student achievement on tests, according to a study by a national anti-illegal immigration group.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) concluded in a soon-to-be released study that student performance in Nevada will lag behind most other states as long as state and federal officials fail to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants into the state.

"As long as Nevada has a sizable and growing Limited English Proficiency (LEP) population, these students will continue to consume a significant proportion of the educational budget and will continue to divert precious resources away from the general student population," according to FAIR's report titled "English Language Learners and Immigration: A Case Study -- Clark and Washoe Counties."

FAIR looked at the performance of LEP students on standardized tests in 2008-09 and found a gap between those students and the general student population of 12.1 percentage points in math, 30 in reading, 53.5 in science and 55.2 in writing.

It concluded this achievement gap is a "significant factor" in the low overall ranking of Nevada students' performance.

Education Week ranked Nevada 50th out of 51 jurisdictions in student achievement, above only the District of Columbia, according to FAIR. Last month, the Nevada Department of Education reported that just 45 percent of the state's elementary schools and 37 percent of the middle schools met the Adequate Year Progress standard on achievement tests.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Keith Rheault agreed with the report's conclusion, saying he has brought it up himself in meetings with his peers.

Midwestern states where students fare well on standardized tests typically have 5 percent or less of their students who are English learners, while Nevada has four times that many, Rheault said.

"There can be no argument that our scores are going to be less than their scores," he said. "The achievement gap is there. Without the large number of limited English proficient students, we would see a big boost in our ranking."

Assemblyman Harvey Munford, D-Las Vegas, who taught in the Clark County schools for 38 years, also said FAIR's conclusion is correct. Without the large number of English learning students, Clark County students would score above average on standardized tests, he said.

Munford said only a handful of students had trouble speaking English in his classes in the 1960s. When he retired in 2005 about half of his class was students whose first language was not English.

"I had several students who could not speak English at all, and I was teaching (high school) seniors," he said. "I had to give them special lessons. They could not keep up with the class."

But Charlene Green, deputy super­intendant of the Clark County School District, believes limited English proficient students can achieve as well as other students academically once they learn the language. In general, Green said, it takes three to five years for a non-English speaker to master the language.

"If they come in at the high school level, it's hard," Green said. "We have to get them quickly. Kids at the elementary level show great progress."

The FAIR study used a combination of state and federal statistics to estimate the cost of educating LEP students.

In 2008-09, Nevada public schools had 78,732 LEP students, including 62,734 in Clark County, according to state Department of Education. That's 18 percent of the state student population and 20 percent of the Clark County student population.

State and local support for each student in 2008-09 was $7,133. FAIR estimated it costs 30 percent more, or $9,273, to educate a limited English language student, basing that on federal studies and the Congressional Budget Office.

But Nevada education officials strongly disagree with the 30 percent figure, saying they are not sure of the exact figure but it's not that high.

"There is no question it costs more to educate these kids, but I am not sure how much more." Rheault said. "But we have no choice. We serve all students without question."

Other than a $5.4 million federal Title I grant, Green said, Clark County does not spend more teaching LEP students than other students.

Right now, the state gives the same amount of money to teach students with limited English skills as it does for other students.

The Clark County School District is submitting a bill for consideration by the 2011 Legislature that asks for additional funds to teach limited English proficiency students.

Munford, the senior Democrat returning to the Assembly Education Committee, doubts there will be extra money to teach limited English proficiency students without a tax increase.

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for FAIR, said the findings demonstrate the need for both the federal government and the state to enforce illegal immigration laws.

"Just because the federal government isn't doing anything doesn't mean Nevada is entirely hopeless," said Mehlman, noting the state could adopt portions of the Arizona anti-immigration law that have not been thrown out by a federal judge.

He said an estimated 600,000 illegal residents have left Arizona largely because of the publicity generated by its anti-immigration law.

"When they are less welcome there, they will move to New Mexico or other states," Mehlman said. "Illegal aliens are rational people. They won't live where they cannot find jobs or are not welcome."

But Nevada educators and public officials, including gubernatorial candidates Rory Reid and Brian Sandoval, questioned the merits of the study, since the state must educate all students, regardless of the cost, under a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Reid believes it is a federal responsibility to control illegal immigration and disagrees with FAIR's view that the state should take action to reduce the illegal immigration population, according to his spokesman, Mike Trask.

"It is just moving the problem around the country," Trask said. "Rory believes that the federal government must approve comprehensive immigration reform. If a state does it, then (illegal immigrants) just move to other states."

Mary-Sarah Kinner, a spokeswoman for the Republican gubernatorial candidate, said Sandoval "believes we have an obligation to teach all children in Nevada."

"After meeting with teachers, principals, and parents, Brian believes immersion is the best way for non-English-speaking students to gain the language skills they need to achieve," Kinner said.

In an April debate among Republican primary candidates, Sandoval said he favored Nevada adopting the Arizona anti-immigration law.

There is some good news, Rheault said.

He pointed out the number of limited English proficient students fell to 71,000 in the last school year, a more than 7,000 student drop from 2008-09, and an indication that their families may have moved because of the poor economy. He expects another drop this fall.

FAIR and its analyses have come under criticism over the years.

The organization bills itself as an educational organization whose goal is to stop illegal immigration and limit legal immigration to 300,000 a year.

But the Southern Poverty Law Center has called FAIR a "hate group." The Anti-Defamation League has questioned the sources of FAIR's donations and said the organization often uses "reckless and distorted language and tactics that cloud and inhibit responsible debate."

FAIR refers to illegal immigrants as "illegal aliens," a term that many find distasteful.

While acknowledging the criticism, Mehlman said the Southern Poverty Law Center also has been denounced by those with opposing viewpoints.

Some complaints about FAIR are based on donations the organization collected from questionable groups 20 years ago, he said. FAIR's donors, however, do not dictate its position, he said.

Mehlman added FAIR is "not against immigrants, but the immigration policy" that has led to millions of illegal residents living in the United States. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security last February estimated the illegal immigrant population at 10.8 million.

He said Nevada has a lot of limited English proficiency students because the federal and state governments did little to stop the flow of illegal immigration in the first part of the 2000s, a time when many noncitizens moved to booming Las Vegas to work in construction and tourism industry jobs.

Nevada had 260,000 illegal immigrants in January 2009, or about 10 percent of its total population, according to the Department of Homeland Security. In 2000, there were 170,000 illegal immigrants in Nevada, according to the federal agency.

But a new report by the PEW Hispanic Trust put the number of illegal immigrants in Nevada in 2009 at 180,000, down 50,000 in one year.

While the Department of Education does not have figures on the number of English learning students in Nevada who are illegal residents, the Clark County School District found 74 percent of its LEP students are American-born citizens. Ninety percent of the English-learning students are Hispanic.

Priscilla Rocha, director of the Adult English Language Acquisition Program in the Clark County School District, said many of these students were born in the United States to illegal residents. Others are the children of first- or second-generation citizens, including some who have not yet mastered English.

"We need to teach the parents, or we will fail the children," Rocha said. "They need to be able to help their children."

Mehlman does not dispute that most English-learning students were born in the United States and are citizens under provisions of the 14th Amendment.

But Mehlman has a different interpretation of the amendment and maintains that its authors never intended to give citizenship to children born here to illegal residents. FAIR does not want to repeal the amendment or deny citizenship to children already here, but favors Congress passing a law saying future children born to illegal residents are not citizens.

Other than the federal $7.8 million statewide in Title III grants, Rheault said the federal government gives little to Nevada schools to help teach English learners.

Schools in the state also receive $80 million in Title I funds, but this money is for all economically disadvantaged students, not just children learning English.

"It isn't much," Rheault said.

Contact reporter Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.