Utah lawmaker defends bill allocating extra funds for English-language learners despite pushback

Yahoo

14-02-2025

With loud clamoring across the country for the deportation of immigrants here illegally, Rep. Candice Pierucci said her proposal to increase funding to aid English-language learners in Utah's schools has plenty of naysayers.
"I have gotten a lot of pushback on this bill, a lot. And there are people who feel like we should not be doing anything," she said Thursday at a hearing on the measure, HB42, before the Senate Education Committee.
The Republican from Herriman, however, remains adamant that the measure is needed. Doing nothing "is not going to fix the problems in the classroom," she said. She feels "very strongly" that the measure is needed to "make sure we are getting the resources to the front lines, to our students and teachers."
The measure received a favorable recommendation from the Education Committee in a unanimous voice vote on Thursday and now goes to the full Utah Senate for consideration. It received unanimous support from the Utah House in a 71-0 vote last week. The measure would allocate $500,000 a year in extra funds to aid public school districts in Utah experiencing the sharpest jumps in numbers of English-language learners, typically immigrant students.
The strong legislative backing notwithstanding, the notion of bolstering money to help a pool of kids likely to include students here illegally rubs some the wrong way. Amid increased calls by many to crack down on illegal immigration, most notably from President Donald Trump, conservative Utah influencer Eric Moutsos, for one, takes umbrage with the idea.
"Yes, we all know the massive problem of illegal aliens in Utah, but is $500,000 of taxpayer money going to deter people from coming to Utah, or is this a clarion type call incentive for more illegals aliens to come with their children?" he said in a post on his X account last week.
Pierucci countered the foes, though, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that schools must offer instruction to all students regardless of their migratory status. She also emphasized the measure as a means of aiding teachers contending with the influx of English-language learners, who typically need extra or specialized attention.
"Also, teachers are not ICE," Pierucci said, referencing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency tasked with pursuing immigrants here illegally. "They are not the border police. Their job is to teach children. We've given that impossible task to them right now and I'm trying to make it easier for them."
As of 2024, Utah schools had experienced an 81% jump in the number of children with the most rudimentary levels of English compared to the average for the prior three years, according to Pierucci. The presence of such students can hamper instruction for the broader pool of kids, she said, citing the example of one teacher she spoke with.
The teacher "would present the subjects she was teaching on and then one of the students who spoke Spanish and English would translate for six other students," she said. "That was the only option they had."
Districts experiencing jumps of at least 75% in the numbers of English-language learners with the most basic level of English over the prior three-year average would be able to tap into the $500,000. They'd also have to experience jumps of at least 30 students in the category. The funding could be used as recipient districts see fit.
Liliana Bolaños, a policy analyst with Voices for Utah Children, a nonprofit child advocacy group, expressed support for the bill, but said extra funding should also be available for districts that already have high numbers of English-language learners. After Thursday's hearing, Pierucci said districts typically get an extra funding allowance from the state for the numbers of English-language learners in their schools. Funds from HB42 would be aimed at supplementing schools that experience large unexpected spikes in such students at the start of each school year, before the state makes the extra funding allocation.
HB42 received favorable comments, by and large, from Senate Education Committee members.
HB42 isn't "just about translating for our students. It's about providing them with an education that teaches them how to navigate an English-speaking world," said Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights.
Sen. John Johnson, R-North Ogden, sees HB42 as a way of bolstering support for Utah teachers contending with increasing numbers of English-language learners.
"I don't especially care where these kids came from. This is about supporting teachers and it's supporting our schools," he said. "Someone else can worry about why these kids are here or anything else. But this really is about supporting our teachers who are struggling with this."
According to Utah Board of Education figures, Granite School District experienced a 76% jump in English-language learners in 2024 compared to the prior three-year average, from 2,298 to 4,041. Jordan School District experienced a 108% jump, from 723 to 1,502. The numbers represent students with the most basic English skills as determined from standardized testing.