By Chloe Sutterfield, Capital News Service; Jason Tejeda Molina, VCU InSight

RICHMOND, Va. – The state needs to better fund the education of English language learners, despite recent budget increases, teachers in the field say.

Educators report that English learners have increased needs since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but there are not enough teachers or allocated funds, according to a Joint Legislative Audit and Commission review this year of Virginia's K-12 funding. The commission evaluates state agencies and writes policy analysis at the request of the state legislature. 

The state Standards of Quality formula used to calculate staffing does not adequately account for higher needs students. It underestimates the number of second language teachers needed. The state's calculation of teachers needed was 47% of the number estimated as needed by workgroups that contributed to the JLARC report.

The state's ratio is one teacher per 50 English learner students. However, the average school division employed one English as a second language teacher for every 19.5 students. Workgroups still estimated that more teachers were needed. 

One workgroup member described "excessively high caseloads" of over 100 English learner students per teacher, according to the JLARC report. 

Virginia school divisions serve over 117,000 students whose primary language is not English, or about 10% of the student population, according to the Virginia Department of Education.

ESL program funding

State ESL funding has increased since 2019. The General Assembly appropriated $106.86 million for ESL this fiscal year to support 20 instructional positions per 1,000 English learner students. Local school divisions provide a match, based on an ability-to-pay index. 

There are a couple of factors that play into ESL program funding.

Laura Goren is the director of research and education policy at the Commonwealth Institute, a public policy advocacy group.

Virginia has struggled to fund education for a number of years, especially for English learner programs, Goren said.

"We have not made as much progress in increasing funding for English language learners," Goren said. "I think that's an area where Virginia needs to do a whole lot more and we haven't made the progress we need to make."

Local governments have to provide funding to make up for inadequate state support, Goren said. 

 "Some local governments are much more able to pick up the slack and fund the schools than other local governments." 

English learners had the most significant drop in state achievement scores of any student groups measured for state reading, math and science tests in 2021, according to the Commonwealth Institute. 

But, Virginia ESL proficiency rates had already dropped 11.3% for fourth grade learners from 2009 to 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Education. 

The state has just started to lift a cap on support positions that has been in place over a decade. 

But advocates say that English learners require more funding per pupil. English learners need up to 2 to 2.5 times more funding than other students, according to a study cited in a VPM report last year.

Jo-el Cox is the VDOE coordinator for English learner instruction. She provides technical assistance to educators, supports state and federal programming initiatives, and relays information on how to best support ESL students. 

VDOE offers multiple training opportunities for ESL teachers to learn how to work with their students. They also have tools that help students and their families.

"This year we created a course in Canvas where individuals can log in and learn about the program models," Cox said.

 There are five U.S. Department of Education's Language Instruction Educational Program, or LIEP, program modules in Virginia: transitional bilingual, dual immersion, English language development, content with integrated support and newcomer programs.

ESL programs are still recovering from COVID-19, in terms of student growth and student gains, according to Cox.

"I think not having that face-to-face in-person interaction consistently during COVID in some of our school divisions, really didn't do anything to support their learning and further their learning," Cox said.

The importance of ESL programs 

More people are coming to the U.S. from other countries, according to Sarah Modrak. She is an LIEP education specialist. 

Immigrant naturalization dipped in 2020 with borders and offices closed because of the pandemic. But since 2022, U.S. citizenship has increased by numbers not seen for more than a decade, according to Pew Research.

Modrak is also the supervisor for the Welcome Center at Tucker High School in Henrico County. The center helps ESL students register for school. Henrico County Public Schools has a variety of resources to support ESL students, Modrak said.

The Welcome Center was created to support students and their families through the transition to a new school.

"It's not easy for a family who has just arrived to kind of go through that registration process, to get all of the paperwork and documents that are required," Modrak said. "So it was a place where we could really spend more time in getting that process started as well."

The Welcome Center was impacted by COVID-19, according to Modrak. When everything moved online the center needed a new registration system so families had more options to get into schools. 

 Allyn Pritchard is a secondary lead LIEP teacher in Henrico. She teaches in multiple languages to cater to her students' primary language. Pritchard also helps teachers by assisting them with accommodations.

English learner programs look different now as a result of the pandemic, but not all of the changes have been negative. Schools are now able to connect with students and families in more convenient ways, according to Pritchard. She could not say if the changes have been easier or harder -- just different.

"I feel like there are more resources now than maybe we had before COVID to meet students where they are," Pritchard said. "The other thing is to be able to meet with families if we can't see families face to face."

ESL students want to learn, and it is important to have a variety of resources to support them in all aspects of their lives, Pritchard said.

"I definitely find there are more 'aha' moments," Pritchard said. "When students are learning English out of necessity, it's a great sense of accomplishment when a student comes in for the first time and they greet you before you greet them."

VCU InSight journalist Jason Tejeda Molina contributed to this report.