
Rutherford County Schools’ board of education passes resolution to encourage government “to expedite the closure of the borders”
Incidents
On January 24, 2025, WKRN reported that the school board of Rutherford County Schools passed a resolution urging lawmakers to “expedite the closure of the nation’s borders.” The resolution is titled “Resolution to Expedite the Closure of the Borders and to Increase Title III Funds for ESL Services.” The resolution states that “Rutherford County has experienced a significant surge in its English Learner (EL) population, with an increase of over 140% in the past decade.” The resolution continues: “In May 2023, Rutherford County Schools had 6,214 ESL students which has grown to 8,373 ESL students in the current school year.”
The growth in these students “necessitated an additional 25 positions at the start of the school year for the English as a Second Language (ESL) program.” The district explains: “The pressure of increasing numbers of ESL students is creating exceptional financial pressures on school systems to provide the services which school systems are legally required to provide.” As a result, the resolution states:
The Board of Education urges our State Legislators and Governor to advocate for the current administration to expedite the closure of our nation’s borders and for the federal government to provide additional funding for Title III program to fund the services the federal government requires school systems to provide to ESL students.
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