Estimates of English as Second Language education costs in Harrisonburg Virginia ? $3000 per student.

I wasn’t clear on the estimate, so I called the superintendent of the Harrisonburg school system, Mr. Donald Ford, a very nice man who works hard to do the job of teaching the students in his charge.

It is $3000.00 per student. Per year!

Mr. Ford’s comment to me a few minutes ago was that because of Plyler vs Doe, he is no way of knowing how many of his students are illegal. He did remark that educating the non-English speaking students “puts tremendous stress” on his school system.

From channel WHSV TV news in Virginia:

The Harrisonburg school system is among the top in the state in a category that poses a challenge.

38% of Harrisonburg students are classified as English as a second language or ESL students.

School Superintendent Don Ford estimates it costs 3,000 dollars more to educate each ESL student, and Harrisonburg has more than 1,600.

“What we have said is that as long as that number continues to increase it’s going to require additional resources for us to maintain the quality of the programs that we have,” says Dr. Don Ford the School Superintendent for Harrisonburg.

Most of the additional cost is paid by the city, not the state or Federal government

This bit of information led me to a Pew Hispanic report with this info:
Undocumented Students

In the U.S. there are 1.7 million undocumented youth under age 18,(4) with approximately 1.3 million having lived in the US for 5 years or more and enrolled in K-12 schools in the year 2002.(5)
1.5% of all children PK-5th are undocumented, and 3% of youth grades 6-12 do not have legal immigration status.(6)
About 80,000 undocumented immigrants turn 18 each year. 16-20% of them fail to complete high school.(7)
Only 1 out of every 20 (5%) of undocumented high school seniors attends college.(8)
Of undocumented high school graduates who have lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years, only 20% enroll in post-secondary education.(9)
Those who graduate from college cannot work legally in the U.S.(10)

I’ll let you know when I find an official estimate figure for the added cost of educating illegals – I mean non-English speakers – in Georgia.

Until then, sit back and understand the rich blesing that illegal immigration is to our state and nation.