.... and FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA, Says, "Welcome, Illegals!" Sort Of ...
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"N.Va. Hit With Cost Of School Migration"
"Pr. William Policies Drive Immigrants To Inner Suburbs"
By Amy Gardner
Wa****ngton Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 28, 2008; A01
Hundreds of foreign-born families have pulled their children from
Prince William County public schools and enrolled them in nearby
Fairfax County, Arlington County and Alexandria since the start of the
school year, imposing a new financial burden on those inner suburbs in
a time of lean budgets.
The school-to-school migration within Northern Virginia started just
as Prince William began implementing rules to deny some services to
illegal immigrants and require police to check the immigration status
of crime suspects thought to be in the country illegally.
Opponents of the rules say they have had a chilling effect on Prince
William's once-thriving Latino community, prompting even legal
immigrants to flee a hostile environment. Sup****ters say the rules
have done what they were supposed to by primarily pu****ng illegal
immigrants out.
"The resolution is clearly working," said Corey A. Stewart (R-At
Large), chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.
"It is driving down the non-English-speaking ****tion of the schools
and saving us millions of dollars. They're going to other
jurisdictions and costing them money."
Stewart called those jurisdictions "sanctuary" cities and counties,
saying illegal immigrants are welcome there. He added: "There is going
to be pressure to enact similar resolutions in those neighboring
cities and counties." Officials from those jurisdictions reject that
assertion.
Until now, the evidence of a migration has been largely anecdotal,
making it difficult to measure or trace its causes. Data from school
systems, however, provide the most concrete evidence to date that a
significant exodus of immigrants is underway -- and that most of those
leaving are settling in neighboring communities.
According to the Prince William school system, enrollment in the
English for speakers of other languages, or ESOL, program dropped by
759 between September and March 31. It was the first known instance of
a decline in ESOL students, said Irene Cromer, a schools spokeswoman.
During that period, 623 ESOL students from Prince William enrolled in
Fairfax schools, compared with 241 in the same period the previous
year. Eighty-three enrolled in Arlington, and 75 signed up in
Alexandria, the latter up from 10.
Twenty-three ESOL students from Prince William enrolled in Loudoun
County, officials there said.
School officials in Fairfax and Arlington said the new students are
scattered across a number of schools, minimizing their effect on
programs and budgets. In Fairfax, for example, a net increase of about
400 students isn't so dramatic when measured against the county's
overall ESOL population of more than 21,000 students.
"We get about 6,000 new language-minority students a year," said Teddi
Predaris, director of Fairfax's Office of ESOL Services. "An increase
of 400 is noticeable, but what adjective you put in front of it
depends on your perspective."
Still, Stewart noted that Prince William's schools expect to save $6
million in education costs as a result of the exodus -- a cost that
will be borne by the other communities. Some officials in Fairfax and
elsewhere say they expect the numbers to climb in the next academic
year.
"The combination of what's happening in Prince William and our own
budget concerns increases anxiety across the system," said Deirdre
Lavery, principal of Glasgow Middle School in the Alexandria section
of Fairfax, where 14 students transferred from Prince William this
school year.
The transfers come as most local governments are strapped for revenue
because of the sagging real estate market.
Local leaders outside Prince William rejected Stewart's assertion that
the exodus will increase political pressure to crack down on illegal
immigrants. Fairfax leaders recently increased funding for the
Enhanced Code Enforcement Strike Team, intended to combat property
blight and crowding, which some residents have blamed on immigrants.
Leaders have been careful to "focus on behavior and not demonize
categories of people," said Gerald E. Connolly (D), chairman of the
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
"It's silly for Mr. Stewart to refer to any jurisdiction as a
'sanctuary county,' " Connolly said. "That's just inflammatory and
demagogic."
Immigration advocates also disputed Stewart's claim that those leaving
Prince William are primarily illegal immigrants.
"The majority of our families here were mixed-status families," said
Nancy Lyall, a volunteer with Mexicans Without Borders. "You're
forcing the legal residents to leave the county as well. And, of
course, many of the children are legal as well, and they're being
forced to leave, too."
Still, the Prince William migration could place further pressure on
Fairfax's code enforcement efforts. It is a reversal of the trend of
immigrants moving to Prince William to find affordable housing. Their
return to the inner suburbs could lead to more instances of the kind
of crowding that officials are seeking to halt.
Arlington's Randolph Elementary School, for instance, "has gotten
back" some of the very Latino students whose families had moved away,
Superintendent Robert G. Smith said. Smith said his schools are able
to absorb the students for now, like Fairfax.
But he urged the State Board of Education, which asked the school
systems in March to measure the Prince William exodus, to consider
helping schools pay for the new students.
"We don't have an offer of help at this point, but I would certainly
welcome it," Smith said.
[Staff writer Michael Alison Chandler contributed to this re****t.]
http://www.wasgingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/27/AR2008042702432.html
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