House votes to give more support to help schools teach English

The House voted to boost state support of schools that have a number of kids who don’t speak English well. The bill, which was approved unanimously, would spend an additional million dollars in the 2003/04 school year for English as a Second Language classes, and allow local schools to raise almost 200-thousand dollars in local property taxes for E-S-L programs. Republican Representative Russ Eddie of Storm Lake says some schools desperately need the extra state help.Over half the students in Storm Lake schools are minorities, and Eddie says 48 percent do not speak English as their primary language. He says the money will not be available for another year, but it’s something they desperately need.