Gwinnett County school board members voted unanimously Thursday in favor of a plan that will allow them to spend up to $1.5 million on translators and interpreters, which is three times what the district spent last school year on such services.
School district officials stressed that $1.5 million is a cushion in case even more services are needed than they anticipate. Gwinnett projects it will spend $636,000 this school year and said any unspent funds would be returned to the general budget.
Gwinnett officials say the need for interpreters has increased with the influx of students and parents who speak little or no English. A decade ago, about 29 percent of Gwinnett students spoke a language other than English at home. Today, it’s 37 percent, district officials say.
Gwinnett hires several companies for interpreters for parent-teacher conferences, school-wide curriculum nights, registering students, disciplinary hearings, area school board meetings, parent surveys and other purposes. More than 100 languages are spoken by Gwinnett students, officials say. About one in six Gwinnett students are classified as having Limited English Proficiency, according to state statistics, a higher rate than any school district in metro Atlanta.
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