RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Rutherford County school board passed a resolution during its Thursday night meeting urging Tennessee leaders to “expedite the closure of the nation’s borders.”
According to the school board, the resolution comes after the county experienced a “significant surge in its English Learner (EL) population, stating the population has seen an increase of over 140% in the past decade.
In fact, the board said RCS schools had 6,214 ESL students in May 2023. Now, the district has grown to 8,373 ESL students in the current school year.
The growth in the district’s EL population has reportedly led them to create an additional 25 positions, adding that as the demand continues to rise, RCS recently had to include 19 more growth positions for ESL.
In the resolution, the school board said the program is primarily funded through local and state revenue due to Title III funds, which only consists of “approximately $1.3 million.”
The district said the need for more positions has placed a “considerable financial strain” on local revenue, which is primarily derived from taxpayers.
As a result, the board wants more federal money to pay for ESL services the district is required to provide for students, for whom English is not their first language.
“The pressure of increasing numbers of ESL students is creating exceptional financial pressures on school systems to provide the services which school systems are legally required to provide; and additional Title III funds are needed to meet the legal requirements imposed on school systems so that the costs of the same is not overwhelmingly borne by local property taxes, local funded taxes, and state funds,” reads the resolution.
According to the school board, the increase of funding needed to serve ESL students is $3,500 more per student.
The resolution passed, but it was not unanimous.
“We don’t have anything to do with this, this is a federal level issue. We should not be doing this,” said Tammy Sharp, School Board Zone 1 member. “We are on the local level, we don’t have any authority over the General Assembly and we don’t have any authority over our federal reps. Our federal reps should be talking to our federal liaisons at the D.C. level. This is going to send a message to our children and not a good one.”
The Rutherford County School Board says the district is home to more than 8,300 ESL students.
To read the resolution in its entirety, click here.
