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District to file waiver as bilingual‑program thresholds hit at some grade levels
Summary
District staff told the board home‑language survey data shows grade levels that meet the 20‑student threshold for a bilingual program; because certified bilingual teachers are limited, the district will file a state waiver and provide transitional early‑exit bilingual services and ELPS supports.
District staff reviewed home‑language survey data by campus and explained how the 20‑student rule requires a bilingual program in a grade level and what the district will do when certified staff are not available.
"So out of the 13 emergent bilingual students, you have 12 that speak Spanish," a district staff member said when outlining elementary counts and noting the bilingual‑program threshold. The staff member explained that where a grade meets the threshold the district must provide a bilingual program or request a waiver; in affected grades the district plans a transitional early‑exit bilingual approach and said it will file the waiver by the end of the month.
Staff also described how parent denials work (students still take TELPAS and count in accountability) and emphasized reliance on visuals, vocabulary, pre‑teach/re‑teach strategies in Bluebonnet materials to serve emergent bilingual students in classroom settings.
