Cuts would hurt
immigrant kids

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By Lisa Asato
lasato@starbulletin.com

State Rep. Dennis Arakaki wants his fellow lawmakers to save a program that teaches English to immigrant students, even if it means cutting other state programs.

The English for Second Language Learners program serves 12,820 students statewide, with more than half in the Honolulu and Leeward Oahu districts, said Arakaki, a Democrat who represents one of the highly affected areas, Kamehameha Heights and Kalihi Valley.

Arakaki said he was most concerned that the Department of Education proposal to cut the $9 million program by $3.6 million would mean eliminating 287 part-time and six full-time teaching positions.

"That's basically all the native language speakers," he said. "They're the ones who provide the bridge between the language of the students to English."

He said the Senate should be looking at "making the cuts elsewhere in the department or other departments if need be because it's so basic ... for many students."

Department spokesman Greg Knudsen said the proposed cuts to the language program underscore the human impact the budget cuts would impose.

"No cuts were easy," he said, adding that the language program is "just a portion of the possible $87 million that we will be short" going into the fiscal year that starts July 1.

"We actually welcome that some people may now be noticing what the human effects are of these cuts," he said.

State lawmakers, trying to balance the state budget in the face of an anticipated $330 million shortfall in tax revenues, are considering cuts to all state departments.

In addition to the $3.6 million cut, proposals also call for wiping out the entire $221,000 for supplies, including testing materials used to measure the progress of the ESLL students, Arakaki said.

Arakaki also said the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits programs that receive federal funds from discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin, and he warned that cutting funds to the program could subject the state to costly litigation and court-mandated services similar to the Felix consent decree.

But Knudsen said: "We would not put ourselves in jeopardy. At the same time, it's necessary to spread the budget reduction evenly, as fairly as possible in ways we hope would have the least negative effect on the system."

Knudsen said ESLL is a core program, and said he suspected there are other sources of funding that would continue to support it.

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