Support for low-income, multilingual learners grows in Cape district
Disadvantaged students got a boost in services with an increase in state funding set to be distributed throughout all Cape district schools.
At its July 13 meeting, the Cape school board unanimously approved an opportunity flex funding waiver allowing the district to use current funding formulas to support multilingual learners and low-income students.
The state first announced the funding initiative in 2019 and granted Cape $661,000 to create new positions and train staff to assist such students; funding for future years would fluctuate based on enrollment. Cape leaders used the funding district-wide, and not on a per-building basis, to hire staff and create programs.
In 2022, the rules for using the funds changed, Director of Teaching and Learning LouAnn Hudson said. The state did not want districts to use funds as a lump sum without a waiver from the school board allowing the use of funds to support positions across the district.
The board also approved the waiver for the 2022-23 academic year, when the district was allocated $616 per multilingual learner or low-income student; students who are in both categories receive only one allocation.
The governor’s program and the General Assembly announced an allocation increase to provide additional supports about a year ago, Hudson said by email after the meeting.
For the 2023-24 school year, Cape is allocated $874 per multilingual learner or low-income student, for a total of $1.4 million. More teachers are needed because the number of students continues to grow, Hudson said.
At the Sept. 30, 2022 unit count, the district had 553 multilingual learners districtwide, and it presently has 596, not counting new kindergarten students, Hudson said.
The number of multilingual learners has increased in the district, Hudson said, noting she expects about 50 to 60 multilingual learners as part of the upcoming year’s kindergarten cohort, while the district lost only nine seniors who were multilingual learners.
On the last day of school in June 2023, Hudson said, the number of multilingual students at each school was as follows: Cape High, 120; Milton Elementary, 120; Lewes Elementary, 83; Mariner Middle, 71; Rehoboth Elementary, 63; H.O. Brittingham Elementary, 59; Love Creek Elementary, 48; and Beacon Middle, 32.
With the funding, the district has added six multilingual learner professionals, including five teachers and one specialist, as well as two school counselors and a bilingual social worker, and pays for a portion of the salaries of four other school counselors, Hudson said.
