Editor’s note: Interviews with Maria Flores were conducted in Spanish. The reporter translated them to the best of her ability.

Maria Flores used to be a top student in Mexico, but now struggles to maintain a “C” average at Urbana High School.

The 15-year-old Mexican native arrived in the United States in April with minimal knowledge of English. For two hours each day, Flores attends ESL (English as a Second Language) class at Urbana High School. ESL is specialized instruction for students whose primary language is not English. The class seeks to help students attain English proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing. After ESL class, Flores goes to regular history, science and math classes – where she said understanding the teacher and the material is a daily battle.

“It would be better if the ESL teacher could pay us more attention, but there’s too many of us and she can’t,” Flores said.

Flores is one of 21 students with limited English proficiency at Urbana High School who receive no more than two hours a day of support in English as a result of budget cuts this year. Urbana School District #116 faced a $3.1 million deficit by the end of 2004 and was forced to reduce the budgets of many programs. This year, the multicultural program was among them. A total of $84,000 was cut from the program, $65,000 of which used to pay the salary of a full-time ESL teacher at the high school.

“I asked that it not be cut that much,” said Jennifer Hixson, multicultural program director for the Urbana school district. “The ESL science, social studies and health class are all gone at the high school. Kids are not getting as much help and it’s hard to meet their needs (because) there are some kids with very low proficiency and some with very high proficiency in the same class.”

Superintendent Gene Amberg declined a phone interview to discuss the multicultural budget cut and requested questions be sent via e-mail. Public relations coordinator Kathy Wallig responded to the e-mailed questions.

“ESL was not cut until the third year,” Wallig said. “The Urbana school district is quite committed to its multicultural program, and has been for decades.”

The consequences for many of the students who depend on ESL are real. The mid-quarter reports show that a number of them flunked courses, said Juliana Arazi, current ESL teacher at Urbana High School.

Arazi teaches ESL through high school literature and language arts for two class periods daily. Afterward, she heads to Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School, where she teaches ESL for the rest of the day. She said targeting the students’ needs at the high school has been difficult.

“She has to teach them all at the same time … and they are all at different levels of English,” said Antoinette Dermott, a senior at Urbana High School who became interested in ESL education in sixth grade.

Dermott is the only community member who publicly opposed cuts to the multicultural program at a March board meeting. School board member Cope Cumpston agreed and opposed the cut.

“I ran on the school board based on the fairness for all students,” Cumpston said. “I wanted to cut the swimming program for third graders or close the central office one day a week before cutting the multicultural program.”

It is unfair for ESL students to receive less support in English when they need more in order to be academically successful, Cumpston said.

The board was given a list of 26 items to choose from this year. Many items have been on the list for the past two years. The multicultural budget reductions were added this year.

School board member Steve Summers voted in favor of the cut.

“We had assurances from the administration that the school would still be able to provide services at the same level as before,” Summers said. “I don’t think we would have gone in that direction otherwise.”

In her e-mail response, Wallig said it is “too early … to determine the impact of this particular … reduction.”

However, some parents are concerned with the lack of academic and English support for their children. Arazi received her first complaint last month from a Chinese parent, whose daughter is struggling in most of her classes at the high school.

“The parent suggested her daughter receive a native Chinese speaker to help her learn English,” Arazi said. “The problem is funding.”

The Chinese student, who started the ESL program in Urbana in April, struggles to make even her most immediate needs known.

“She is a hard worker, always trying and making an effort,” Arazi said.

Arazi believes this student would progress quickly in a program like the one taught by Wuanita Kinoshita, a former, full-time ESL teacher who taught it for 24 years.

“In her case it would have helped,” Arazi said. “Wuanita taught ESL all day and could really target their needs.”

Arazi cannot. She is not at the high school for even half a day.

“It’s affected the number of things I can possibly do with them,” she said.

Arazi tries to combat the problem by splitting her classroom into two groups: those who know little to no English and those who have had some English instruction in their own countries, or have been in the United States for a long time. Arazi allows the students to work together on all class assignments and helps them with other class work every Friday.

“It is not enough,” Kinoshita said.

In a typical social science class, students must be able to construct arguments and discuss alternative solutions to social problems in English, according to a 2001 Urban Institute report on immigrant education in secondary schools. In addition, specialized vocabulary in other subjects and the language in the texts is often too complex for their level of English, Arazi said. However, students have no choice but to take regular classes, even if their level of English comprehension is limited because of the secondary school structure and organization, according to the report.

Previously, students were allowed to remain with Kinoshita for up to four class periods daily. Kinoshita taught content ESL through science, social studies, history and health, so students could complete their graduation requirements.

“When we were reading about the middle-ages, I had them read Robin Hood,” Kinoshita said. “Literature was coordinated with other courses, and for United States history in the middle 1800s, we read the simplified version of Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn.”

Kinoshita also took her students on field trips to help them better understand the material and American culture. Kinoshita also taught a unit on family, relationships and the calendar to fulfill her student’s immediate English conversational needs. Kinoshita said most of her students knew English well enough to exit the program within two years.

“I thought it was an excellent plan,” she said.

Flores agreed.

“It is difficult for me,” Flores said. “There are some words I don’t understand and the teacher teaches a different way of doing the math problems than what I learned in Mexico. It is confusing,” she said.

But Renee Evans, Flores’ algebra teacher, said there is more to the story.

“I would say the main reason she is struggling in class is because her homework is not getting done. Now, her language skills may come into play when we do applications, but even then I can’t say I remember her ever raising her hand to get help,” Evans said.

ESL students are put in a position where they must master a new language, concepts and academic language almost immediately after their arrival to the United States, Arazi said. The need for students to develop their English skills in high school is critical.

“It’s like a time clock,” she said. “If their skills are weak by the time they finish high school, their education may stop there.”