Springfield school board adopts budget amid public outcry about Spanish immersion cuts

The Springfield Board of Education adopted the district budget 3-2 during the packed Monday, June 8, meeting.

After an hour and a half period of public comment, Nicole De Graff, Bob Brew and Ken Kohl voted yes, while Jonathan Light and Amber Langworthy voted against the budget adoption.

Light and Langworthy were concerned about the district’s decision to cut the secondary-level Spanish dual immersion program and lack of information shared about what the district planned to cut.

“I have my concerns of whether some of the decisions that have been made are actually reflective of both the information that we took in and the budget forms that we did across the district,” Light said. “When you tighten your belt, to me, there’s a degree of specificity that needs to happen before (I can) feel comfortable with that.”

On the topic of programmatic cuts, Brew expressed his hesitation about board overreach into district operations. He referenced the district’s strong reaction against it in the past. District leaders accused Light and Kohl of overreach last fall, which caused them to lose their leadership positions on the board and eventually led to a threatened lawsuit against the district and three named board members. Board members, Brew said, learned about the district’s Spanish dual immersion program cuts at the same time as the public.

“We care, but our options are limited as I’ve come to understand,” Brew said.

The $262.2 million budget includes $4 million in reductions across all funds compared with the previous budget, and utilizes $6.2 million in reserves. The board approved staff reductions of 33.7 full-time equivalents May 11. While board members received information about the number of positions the district planned to cut organized by licensed, classified and administrators, the district did not provide information on programmatic cuts when the board voted on reductions. District administrators did not address cuts to language immersion programs during the May meeting.

Public angered by plan to cut dual immersion 

The boardroom was reduced to standing room-only Monday night, more than 100 people filling the seating, standing along the walls and sitting in small rows in the hallway outside. At the height of the meeting’s online viewership, 58 people tuned in to the livestream, according to technology director Jeff Michna.

Many attendees wore shirts with “Save Dual Immersion” signs in support of the Spanish immersion language program, which the district announced last week it plans to cut in middle and high schools.

Parents, students, teachers and community members spoke against the plan and criticized the district for the decision. Of the 23 people who spoke during public comment, 14 supported the program. Some named the benefits of dual immersion language programs on student achievement, including for English-language learners, while others expressed grief and frustration.

Springfield’s dual immersion program, which will retain its elementary program at Guy Lee Elementary next year, began 12 years ago, meaning the program’s first class will be seniors in the fall. Maya Oldson, a freshman at Springfield High School, was one of the four dual-immersion students who spoke.

“One of my main goals throughout school has always been to get recognized at graduation for my completion of this program,” Oldson said. “To think that my 10 years of working hard and putting in so much effort are for nothing — I only needed to complete three more years and now I can’t.”

Others took issue with the district’s lack of transparency.

“What concerns me just as much as the cuts themselves is the process,” Johanis Tadeo, Director of the Springfield Alliance for Equity and Respect, said. “Families, students, and educators were not meaningfully engaged before the decisions were made, the people most impacted were informed after the fact.”

Anselmo Villanueva, an educator and community member for more than 50 years, said the dual immersion cuts reminded him of his first interaction with Springfield Public Schools in the 1980s, when he had to remind an assistant principal that students’ immigration status did not affect their access to public education. He teared up as he spoke about how the district was going backward with its decision to cut the program.

“Not only are students being denied their education by your decision, but just as important, their language and their culture,” Villanueva said. “Bilingual education is meant to level the playing field.”

According to 2024-25 state data, 25% of Springfield students identify as Latino or Hispanic. At Springfield High School and Hamlin Middle School, where the secondary dual immersion programs are located, Latino students make up 36% of the student population.

In response to a question about how the district will foster belonging for Latino students without the dual immersion program, Brian Richardson, Springfield schools communications director, wrote that it was never designed to be a primary way to engage and foster belonging for Latinos in the district. 

Richardson said district-wide cultural events, affinity groups, English-language development programs, family resource services, bilingual staff, translation and interpretation services and family outreach are the district’s main ways of engaging Latino students and fostering a sense of belonging. Since the district began offering dual immersion classes at the secondary level, it hired an inclusion and equity coordinator, a teacher on special assignment focused on equity and student support, and family resource educational assistants for each school.

“These investments have expanded the District’s capacity to provide direct family engagement, community partnerships, and student advocacy,” Richardson said.

Why the district is cutting the program

Springfield’s main reason for cutting the secondary Spanish dual immersion program was the cost relative to the number of students served. There are 99 students currently enrolled in Springfield’s secondary dual immersion program, according to Richardson.

“District leaders reviewed current participation, future enrollment projections, staffing requirements, and overall program sustainability,” Richardson said. “Maintaining the existing secondary model required approximately 2.5 FTE to serve a relatively small number of students compared to other instructional programs.”

In the email to parents, O’Mara said the district is cutting the secondary dual immersion program due to participation trends. Enrollment numbers have not significantly declined or grown, according to district-provided data.

The immersion program didn’t begin at the high school level until 2023, when seven students enrolled as ninth graders. This year, there are 51 high school students enrolled.

According to Richardson, 50 students enrolled in the middle school program level every year for the past three years, dipping to 48 this year. Next year, the district projected there would be 49 middle school students enrolled.

“These enrollment levels were a significant factor in determining whether the current secondary model was financially sustainable,” Richardson said.

Krystal Sundstrom was the district’s elementary dual language immersion coordinator until her position was cut last year. During public comment Monday, she said the district did not always allow English-language learners to join the secondary-level Spanish immersion program, which limited its growth.

“We should be cautious about using enrollment numbers as evidence against the program,” she said. “Those numbers may themselves be the result of policy decisions rather than a lack of student and family interest.”