COLORADO SPRINGS — Harrison School District 2 in Colorado Springs says it doesn't have enough funding to keep up with an influx in immigrant and migrant students enrolling in its schools.
Data from the Colorado Department of Education shows District 2 has seen a 28% increase in migrants and immigrants enrolled in schools from Oct. 2023 to Feb. 2024. The data shows an increase of 114 immigrants and 3 migrants at D2 during that time period. These numbers are simply estimates since the data is self-reported by students' families.
The Associated Press defines immigrants as people who move to a different country with the intention of settling there, whereas migrants are defined as those who are on the move, sometimes for economic reasons, either within one country or across borders.
Tamie Hollon, the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education Director for D2, said she sees the influx as a challenge rather than a strain. She said the increase in migrants and immigrants is impacting the way classrooms are operated.
“The difference within their classes is now it's not just English and Spanish, it is English, Spanish, Swahili, Farsi," she said. "There may be classes where a teacher is pulling students out and working with them along the side, there may be some classes where there is a paraprofessional coming in to support students.”
Hollon said another challenge is working with new students who may have never been in a traditional classroom environment.
“A lot of times it is the one classroom teacher that is putting into place different scaffolds and supports for students, and so that is probably where teachers are asking for the most help," she said.
Public school districts in Colorado receive annual funding based on the number of students enrolled during a pupil count in October. Any new students enrolled since that time do not count towards funding, which presents a problem for some districts needing more resources to keep up.
Last Friday state legislators passed a bill allocating $24 million in funding for school districts that are seeing new student arrivals. The money will be given to school districts based on how many new arrivals have enrolled since the October count.
Hollon said District 2 will be applying for funding. She said the district is still identifying where possible funding would go but said staff are exploring more translating services.
A few other school districts in El Paso County are reporting an increase in migrants and immigrants, according to the data from the state department of education. The data shows Colorado Springs School District 11 saw an increase of 370 immigrant students from Oct. 2023 to Feb. 2024. School District 49 saw an increase of 24 immigrants during the same time period, while Academy School District 20 had a decrease of one immigrant student.
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