Norman cancels French immersion program

NORMAN — Significant cuts in the state educational budget are forcing the Norman school district to make some tough decisions, district officials said. One of those is eliminating the innovative French immersion program begun in 2012.

Superintendent Joe Siano said the loss of the program is “heartbreaking,” especially to the parents and children who have committed to the language immersion experience since its inception.

Siano said Norman schools will face a $6 million deficit going into the next school year, so the loss of the French immersion program “is just one of many areas that will be affected.”

The state has experienced a significant revenue failure this fiscal year, which has resulted in state education funding cuts of nearly $110 million in the past three months alone, Siano said.

“This equates to a $2 million loss for the Norman public school district and additional cuts are expected in the next few months,” he said.

For the next fiscal year, Oklahoma’s $1.3 billion shortfall is expected to result in an additional $3.8 million reduction for Norman Public Schools, Siano said. Combined, that leaves the school district facing a $6 million loss in funding.

Siano called the situation “grim,” requiring school officials to slash costs in operation, administration, support services and custodial services.

“While we did not want to eliminate the French immersion program, we could not justify the cost in this environment,” Siano said.

To date, the program has served about 156 children in a half-day language immersion curriculum at Ronald Reagan Elementary School. But the program would cost about $400,000 to continue in next year’s budget, the superintendent said.

Other reductions planned include elimination of library assistants and most teaching assistants.

Most reductions in staff will come in the form of attrition by retirements or resignations, or by reassignments, Siano said.

The deepest percentage of reductions will be realized in administrative functions, and pay for administrators has been frozen, Siano said.

“Our priority remains to protect the classroom. We continue to hire classroom teachers and are working hard to ensure our students continue to receive the quality education they deserve and expect from our schools,” Siano said.

But language immersion programs are something parents and students should expect, Siano said.

“I’m still committed to these kinds of programs, and I believe it is something public schools should offer. I was deeply committed to the French immersion program from the beginning, so this is particularly heartbreaking for me.”

Jenny Slinker said her 5-year-old daughter began the French immersion program this year and has looked forward to it from Day One.

“She was so excited when she was accepted. It gave her something to be excited about. I’m not angry at the district for eliminating it, but I am disappointed.”

Slinker said she and other parents have tried to come up with ways they can help save the program because they don’t want to see their children lose the progress they’ve made.

“This program has been highly successful and widely loved by the school and families,” she said.

“So we’ve talked about doing fundraisers or whatever we can to save it. There are fourth-graders who have been with the program since kindergarten. They were promised five years. Now they can’t complete their fifth year,” Slinker said.

Siano urged all parents and community members “to make your voices heard at the legislative level. There is a lack of commitment to public schools, and people need to let their legislators know how they feel about it.”

If schools have to face another round of cuts next year, “we’ll be in a very desperate situation. Schools statewide will be in a desperate situation,” Siano said.

Other budget cuts outlined by Siano include cutting administrative costs by 11 percent; reducing certified staffing costs by about 3 percent; reducing operational costs by more than 10 percent; cutting support services by nearly 10 percent; and evaluating all contracts, including custodial services, to effect reductions.

These reductions “are a direct result of future shortfall projections, lost revenue from state sources and the inability of state leadership to meet their current obligations,” Siano said.

In his years of serving the district, “this is by far the worst budget crisis I’ve seen, with the potential for much long-term damage,” he said.