English learners in all Salinas elementary school districts struggle to reach state goals.

For three years in the row, the Monterey County Civil Grand Jury has found English learners in Salinas elementary schools are failing to reach statewide averages for math and English. While grand jury investigations usually focus on a single school district – for 2014-15, it was just Salinas City Elementary – this time around, the grand jury looked at all three elementary school districts: Santa Rita Union, Salinas City and Alisal Union school districts.

The report, released June 26, did not mince words: “The three elementary school districts in Salinas are not meeting statewide averages for English and math test scores,” according to one of 11 findings.

Rather than push back against the grand jury slamming them, all three school districts agree. They cite funding challenges and a large number of foreign-language speakers as their main obstacles.

“Teaching in Salinas is unique,” Santa Rita Union Superintendent Shelly Morr says. “For the last couple of years, we’ve been enrolling more English learners.”

The number of English learners, or students who are studying English as a second language, fluctuates somewhat during the school year, but the grand jury reports some averages: 43.3 percent of students in Santa Rita Union, 52.9 percent in Salinas City Elementary and 71 percent in Alisal Union are English learners. By comparison, 40 percent of all students in Monterey County and 21 percent of students in California are English learners.

One concern among administrators is that if elementary students fall behind, it gets harder to recover ground once they begin seventh grade. It’s around that age when academic language and concepts become more nuanced, Morr says: “This is why we need to catch them early, before they fall.”

In written responses to the grand jury (approved in the recent weeks by all three boards) and in interviews, officials from all three districts lay out the challenges to achieving better success. They say learning a second language is a five – to eight-year process. That’s especially difficult for students whose families don’t speak English at home, or for students who are highly mobile; Monterey County has the highest concentration of migrant students in Northern California.

“It’s a consistency challenge,” Morr says. To tackle that challenge, Santa Rita schools have been encouraging parents to enroll their kids in preschool. Those schools run year-round, including summer. Morr’s thinking: The younger kids are when they’re exposed to English, the better they’ll do in the long run.

“We’re [also] asking ourselves, ‘How do we make sure they’re not losing what they gain?’” Morr says.

Morr adds that schools are also trying to contextualize language with “real-world experiences.” To that end, Santa Rita administrators plan on spending more on field trips, apps and computer programs, hoping to increase the chances students have to interact with their second language.

“It’s like being in another country,” Morr says. “The more time spent being immersed in a different culture and language, the faster someone learns.”

Another challenge is for teachers, who find themselves balancing varying English proficiencies (including native speakers) in the classroom – all at once.

“We’re trying to focus our curriculum for students entering at different levels,” Salinas City Elementary School District Superintendent Martha Martinez says. “It’s possible to have a kindergarten class with several English learners, reading and writing at different levels.”

The grand jury’s investigation also identified several other possible contributing factors to low test scores. They found that average K-3 classrooms were larger than 20 students. Both Santa Rita and Salinas City Elementary agreed, noting in their written responses the K-3 Class Size Reduction Program, which monetarily rewarded schools for reducing class sizes, ended in the 2012-13 school year.

The investigation also found that all three districts are underfunded in a high-cost area, which presents challenges for finding and retaining new teachers, especially those who are specifically trained to work with English learners.

Nearby Carmel Unified budgets an average of $19,695 per student. That’s more than twice Alisal Union’s average of $9,492 per student.

The cost of living in Salinas is also above the national average, at $36,264 a year for a single person, according to the grand jury. Santa Rita Union’s starting salaries for teachers begin at $44,717. Alisal Union’s and Salinas City’s starting salaries are $47,108 and $45,686, respectively.

The grand jury’s conclusion offers little hope of a solution: “It’s unlikely that the low amount of funding [per student], the disparity between the high cost of living, and starting teachers salaries will be solved in the foreseeable future.”

Again, all three districts agree with that takeaway.

There are some ideas for the long term. The grand jury recommended continued work on a joint venture between CSU Monterey Bay and Hartnell College, with hopes of churning out more local teachers who could eventually teach in Salinas. (Both Santa Rita and Salinas City district concur.)

The grand jury also recommended establishing a uniform curriculum for all Salinas elementary school across all three districts. But all three boards demurred on this recommendation.

“Each school district has distinct needs,” Alisal Union Superintendent Héctor Rico said in a statement. “It’s not currently feasible for the various Salinas school districts to establish and use a uniform [English-language] curriculum.”

Editor's Note: This story has been updated. A previous version stated Salinas City Elementary School District's starting salary began at $47,108. The correct starting salary begins at $45,686.