ORLANDO, Fla. — Rep. Stephanie Murphy of Orlando says her bill, the ELEVATE Act, will give Central Florida schools more fenderal funding to help English-learning students.
- She says ELEVATE Act would help Puerto Rican students
- Federal funds would be used to hire more teachers
- Learn more about the act here
The Democrat says Puerto Rican students who came to the U.S. after Hurricane Maria or the recent earthquakes are not calculated into the formula that allocates federal funds for English-learning students. She said the ELEVATE Act would reverse that.
"That enables Central Florida to receive resources from the federal government," Murphy said. "So, it's critically important for us to have those resources and provide them for our new residents."
The federal funds could be used to hire more teachers or instructional materials for ESL students.
The school district in Osceola County is one of the districts that would benefit the most, as 25 percent of the students at the district's schools are Hispanic.
“It is very frustrating for teachers when they have a student what we call NES — a student that is a Non-English Speaker — and they don’t know how to relate to the student," Lynette Batista ESOL Education Specialist at School District of Osceola County said.
Batista makes sure the schools she works for are ESL compliant she said more resources are always needed.
"It is always welcome extra support, extra hands, extra materials and extra training," Batista said.