Dan Genz, The Examiner
2008-03-12 08:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

Hundreds of Prince William County public school students learning English as a second language left in the middle of the academic year, the school board reported Wednesday.

School board members said the loss of 630 English for Speakers of Other Languages students illustrates that immigrants are leaving the community after an illegal-immigration crackdown the county supervisors approved in October.

“The decline reflects that some of our parents are either leaving or not willing to let their students go to school in light of the new policies in the county,” said school board member Don Richardson of Gainesville.

The ESOL population rose by 1,546 students in October to 13,393, but then began to decline, school officials said, about the time the new illegal-immigration policy was approved Oct. 17.

“I think it’s a firm indication the policy is working,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart said. “It’s the first concrete data we have to indicate that our crackdown on illegal immigration is working.”

The new data uphold the concerns of immigrant advocates, who have said since the crackdown was proposed in the summer that they were hearing that immigrants were leaving the county.

“The fear is driving people out,” said Nancy Lyall, a coordinator for Mexicans Without Borders. “I think you will continue to see more people leaving and the numbers continuing to decrease.”

A drop in the school population could have a major impact on the county’s budget because board members were anticipating a population growth of 1,904 students next year.

It costs $10 million to educate every 1,000 students, Occoquan school board member Grant Lattin said.

The declining immigrant population and the mortgage crisis also resulted in a drop in local bus riders in Prince William County, said Al Harf, executive director of the Potomac Rappahannock Transportation Commissionn.

“We’re seeing our most pronounced drops in the areas that are heavily populated by Hispanics and the areas where the foreclosures are the most prominent,” Harf said Tuesday.

dgenz@dcexaminer.com