MEMBERS of the Westminster School District board with State Senator Tom Umberg (yellow mask).

But that amount is not all for them

Recently, Westminster School District  was presented with a check for $10 million from State Senator Tom Umberg on behalf of the California Department of Education. The check represents statewide grant funding for all the dual language immersion programs from this year’s state budget.

A total of $10,000,000 has been earmarked to support local school districts with dual-language programs from the state. A qualified school district will apply for the grant and may receive a portion of the $10,000,000 amount. CDE will be providing additional grant details to school districts at a future time. The funding to the dual-language programs will help WSD to continue supporting California’s mission of Global California 2030, which is the initiative to have half of all the state’s K–12 students participate in programs leading to proficiency in two or more languages in eight years.

WSD qualifies for this grant and is home to two dual-language programs at DeMille Elementary, the first Vietnamese Dual Language Immersion in California, and at Willmore Language Academy, the Spanish Dual Language and Coding. The district is proud of its accomplishments in preparing and teaching students world language skills to become bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural. These ongoing and dedicated efforts will equip our students with essential skills to better appreciate and fully engage in the diverse mixture of cultures, heritages, and languages.

“We are grateful for this grant, as it will serve many students in our Spanish and Vietnamese dual-language immersion programs for many years to come, especially in preparing lifelong skills for our students to be successful in the global economy,” said Superintendent Dr. Cyndi Paik.

The WSD Board of Trustees are President Jeremy Khalaf, Vice President Khanh Nguyen, Clerk Tina Gustin-Gurney, Trustee David Johnson, and Trustee Frances Nguyen.