I am at a campus that has hired 3 bilingual teachers this year and I have to help one of them with sounds. She does not know all of the sounds in the English alphabet, but she gets $4000 additional dollars a year for the 2 non english speaking students in her class.

Although it is not happening on my campus, there are many schools that only have 10 to 15 bilingual students in their bilingual classes while the regular ed teachers at the same campus are juggling 25 to 29 students. They are paid more and are dealing with less students. What is fair about that?

I am one of those people who thinks the bilingual program should start at 2nd grade. The younger the students are the easier it is for them to pick up the language. Total immersion is ideal for students from Pre-K through 1st grade. It is amazing how fast the student pick up the language. In fact, the students that have gone through our prek through 1st ESL classes do not need the bilingual classes because their foundation is in English.

[Ed Note: Yes, your story (as we have found out) is not unique. Of course, now that we have confirmed this...]