LEWISTON – To teach 150 Bantu children from Africa who have arrived without ever having attended school, Lewiston needs to hire six English as a Learning Language teachers and one program coordinator, schools Superintendent Leon Levesque said Monday.
Lewiston also needs to hire three teachers at the high school to shrink the size of freshmen and sophomore classrooms from the high 20s to the low 20s.
Portable classrooms are needed at Longley School and Montello School to handle growing enrollment, Levesque said. Longley was built for 200 students; its population is approaching 265.
Plus, for the first time taxpayers would pay for high school bowling and girls ice hockey. Both teams made it into the proposed school budget after three years of paying their own way.
Those are among the highlights of why Lewiston’s K-12 spending is growing from $38.9 million to $41.4 million, a 6.4 percent increase, as proposed in the budget Levesque unveiled Monday.
While spending is going up, property tax bills will not rise because of it, Levesque said. An extra $2.61 million Lewiston is getting from the state will cover the costs.
Unlike last year, this year Lewiston will not return money to taxpayers because there are needs that can’t be ignored, Levesque said. He called his proposed budget fair, one “that is a good stab at dealing with our needs.”
The budget proposes hiring 15 people, seven to handle the growing number of foreign students. Six new English language teachers are proposed for Montello, Longley, the middle and high schools, plus one program coordinator. The city now has nine English as a Learning Language teachers.
Until now, Lewiston has done without a coordinator. “We just can’t continue to operate and do the other things expected of us.”
Four years ago the first arrival of Somali students came with schooling. The latest wave of Bantu students from Africa are mostly “not literate,” Levesque said. “It has put a tremendous drain on resources.”
When such a student arrives, extra classroom support is provided through education technicians. It’s key the students get exposed to the English language, Levesque said. “We do give one-on-one instruction. As soon as we feel they can benefit from a classroom, put them there and work with the classroom teacher.”
The younger the student, the quicker they adapt. When high school-age students arrive without any education, “it’s much more difficult,” Levesque said. “Some will probably not end up graduating from high school. Some will probably work toward General Education Development certificates because of the time it’s going to take.”
The budget also calls for three new teachers in math, science and English at the high school. The extra staff would allow team teaching so teachers could work together to help students.
“We want to customize services, but not letting kids fall between the cracks.” Teaming also allows parents to have direct contact with teachers, Levesque said, adding that Lewiston wants to improve communication with teachers and parents.
The budget expands sports with bowling and girls hockey. If boys ice hockey is supported, it’s only fair the same opportunity is given to girls, Levesque said. “This is getting big in the United States. There are lots of scholarships available to lady hockey players.” The girls hockey team would get $30,500 a year.
Bowling would get $3,100. Levesque justified asking taxpayers to support bowlers. “On the one hand we say, kids don’t exercise enough. There’s obesity.’ You know, there are some kids who want to play and do things. We ought to practice what we’re promoting.”
While the overall budget is growing the burden to city taxpayers has shrunk, Levesque said. In 2001-02, Lewiston taxpayers spent $15.1 million on education. Five years later, the proposed budget is asking for $13.9 million.
School Committee members will review the budget this month before voting on it on March 13. The City Council will then vote on overall city spending.
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