TEMPLE, Texas — Temple ISD's bilingual education program started around 20 years ago.
"Over the years we've had tremendous growth," Director of Bilingual Programs Consuelo Sisneros told 25 News.
The program has seen a roughly 11% increase year after year and now makes up about 12% of their student body.
"We're almost to 1,300 kids in the district that fall under the BE umbrella which means they can be bilingual or ESL, which are two different programs," Sisneros said.
According to the 2020 Census, diversity in Texas is on the rise.
Hispanics were the largest demographic in the state with 40.2% of the population. There was also an increase in the Asian and Black communities as well.
The school says they've seen that diversity on their campuses and now work with students who speak more than 20 languages, with Spanish being most common.
"Next one in line would be Vietnamese," said Sisneros. "We just had children come in from the Philippines. That's new to us, we haven't had children from the Philippines before."
The district also partners with Temple College, who offers classes for students' parents and families.
"ESL classes for the parents to learn English, citizen classes, how to vote and things like that," said Sisneros. "It's an asset to have parents who are so involved."
According to the Texas Teachers of Tomorrow, the need for ESL classes has increased 50% in recent years. They report the need is only about 20% met.
