Families and students in southern Wisconsin are celebrating after the Delavan-Darien School District school board voted to keep its K-12 dual language program unchanged following weeks of community pushback and organizing efforts.
The district had considered shortening the Spanish-English dual-language program so it would end after sixth grade, citing staff shortages and financial constraints. But after packed meetings, petitions and public comment, the Delavan-Darien Board of Education voted to maintain the program in its current 4K-12 grade structure for the 2026-2027 school year.
“This victory belongs to every person who showed up, spoke up, shared information, signed the petition, attended meetings, contacted board members, created signs, supported students, and advocated for bilingual education,” according to a comment from a petition which was circulated mid-April to protect the dual language program.
Board members also voted to create an 18 person Dual Language Advisory Committee and strengthened the dual language coordinator position.
The advisory committee will include teachers, parents, community members and administrators who have applied for consideration. According to the Gazettextra, the committee was created in response to findings from the community needs assessment.
“[The community] identified a need for a clearer shared vision, more consistent implementation across schools, stronger communication with stakeholders, increased support for bilingualism, and improved use of data to monitor program effectiveness,” the publication reported.
The committee is expected to provide recommendations on the future of the program, instructional practices, equity and access, communication strategies and additional improvements.
According to the district’s website, the Delavan-Darien School District is the only school district in Walworth County to offer a Spanish/English dual language education program.
The program was designed to support bilingual learners while also giving English-speaking students the opportunity to become biliterate in Spanish and English.
According to the district’s website, the two-way instructional model allows native English speakers and native Spanish speakers to learn together through multicultural and multilingual instruction.
The dual language program began in 2014, and starts in 4K. Its classes are made up of half English speakers and half Spanish speakers, and 90% of the instruction is in Spanish for fourth grade and half in English and half in Spanish in 5th grade.
According to the Gazetteextra, the school district told them that more than 600 of Delevan-Darien’s 1,700 students are enrolled in dual-language education. In addition, 52% of the Delavan-Darien student body is Hispanic.
According to a December 2025 report from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction titled “Status of Bilingual-Bicultural Education Programs in Wisconsin,” 55,772 English learner students were enrolled in Wisconsin public and independent charter schools during the 2024-25 school year, accounting for about 7% of the state’s student population.
The report found English learner enrollment increased from 49,528 students during the 2020-21 school year to 55,772 students during the 2024-25 school year.
According to the DPI report, the Delavan-Darien School District has approximately 300 eligible English learner students, with wages and other bilingual education costs totaling more than $1.58 million. State reimbursement for the program totaled about $128,819.
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