"We are selling our home and moving because of this," said Birch, who now plans to send her son to another elementary school in nearby Washington when he enters kindergarten. "Our tax dollars shouldn't be used to teach Spanish to our kindergartners. We feel like we're being discriminated against, but the worst part is that they're taking our local school to do it and we're told we have to go somewhere else if we don't like it."

Ten percent of the district's student population is Hispanic, according to a March 9, 2006, ethnicity report. At Dixie Downs Elementary, that percentage is higher, with 159 of the school's 549 students identified as Hispanic.

And a Spanish-speaking family is hoping the program excels at Dixie Downs and spills over into their home.

"When we came here two years ago my oldest kid had a hard time in kindergarten," said Benjamin Zarate, who said Spanish is spoken at home but the entire family wants to learn to speak, read and write English as well. "I saw in my kid's face some frustration, so I tried to teach him at home, but it's hard for me."

Many of the students attending Dixie Downs live in rental housing and often move, which makes tracking their progress more difficult, said Principal Dale Porter.

"Dual immersion helps solve problems associated with mobile populations," he said. "The old framework at Dixie Downs doesn't work. The bottom line is we need to do what's best for the children, not what's politically pressing at the time."

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com; danderton@desnews.com

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