Opinion ID: 2518321
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: bilingual

Text: H.B. 2247 increases the weighting for bilingual programs from.2 to .395 for the 2005-06 school year and thereafter. When applied to the higher BSAPP, the result is an $11 million increase in state aid. The Board computes the effects of these changes to be an additional $1,668 per bilingual student, a 115.7 percent increase. A&M recommended that the bilingual weighting increase be based on student enrollment and that it range from .15 to .97, providing $1,118 to $4,510 per bilingual student. The plaintiffs point out that this weighting is limited to contact hours, usually a maximum of two hours per day for each student. This means the $1,668 amount must be reduced by 2/3, to $556 per actual bilingual student. The State contends that it considered the actual costs of providing a suitable education for bilingual students. That contention is based solely on the House Select Committee on School Financing's reliance on historical data showing what school districts had already been spending under the financing formula we have held to be unconstitutional. The Board makes no argument as to the weighting's relationship to actual costs; it simply repeats that it regards the change in the weighting as a good faith effort toward compliance. Although the increase in this weighting is significant, it still differs substantially from the cost information in the record.