Ann Pond is one of 20 full-time English Speakers of Other Languages, or ESOL, teachers with Horry County Schools sharing classrooms with seven part-time teachers and four aides. In the past two years, the ESOL classes have grown from 1,500 students to more than 2,100, Horry County Schools report.
Horry’s ESOL program is the third-largest in the state with Greenville County on top, followed by Beaufort County. Georgetown County’s ESOL program has about 210 students with six full-time teachers. The program is part of the federally mandated No Child Left Behind Act, which sets educational standards for students from kindergarten through high school.
Federal funding for the ESOL program is set at more than $4 million annually in South Carolina, according to a study from the University of South Carolina. The study states only 2 percent of the state’s students are classified as needing the ESOL program.
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