VANCOUVER -- ESL students are in the majority at more than 60 schools across Metro Vancouver, according to data from B.C.’s Ministry of Education. And at a dozen schools in the region, more than one in six students has special needs.

At The Vancouver Sun’s request, the ministry provided data on the number of English as a Second Language, special needs and gifted students at each school district and public school in B.C.

Of the 560,000 students attending public schools in B.C., about one in 10 are classified as English Language Learners or ELL, the term the ministry uses instead of ESL. Another one in 10 are classified as “special needs.

But rates vary dramatically from district to district and school to school.

For example, almost 30 per cent of the students in Richmond are classified as ELL, meaning they speak a language at home other than English. And of the roughly 550 schools in Metro Vancouver, there are 65 — primarily in Richmond, Surrey and Vancouver — where more than half of the students are English learners.

Rates also vary, though not as widely, for special-needs students.



If you're on a mobile device, please click here to see the interactive graphic.

In the Sunshine Coast school district, one in five students is classified as special needs, double the provincial average. In contrast, only seven per cent of students in Richmond have a special-needs designation, one of the lowest rates in the province.

Using an interactive tool available here, you can look up your own child’s school and district and see how its rate of ELL, special-needs and gifted students compares to the provincial average.

If you're on a mobile device, please click here to see the interactive graphic.

The ministry provides detailed written guidelines to school districts on how and when to classify a student as ELL or special-needs. Special needs can include any one of 12 different categories, including autism, blindness, learning disabilities and behaviour problems.

Districts receive $1,340 a year in supplemental funding for up to five years for each of their ELL students. The ministry also provides districts with extra funding for those with the most serious special needs, such as $18,300 a year for those with autism and $9,200 for those with severe behavioural problems. That’s in addition to the $6,900 provided to districts for each enrolled student.

Those with other special needs, such as learning disabilities, do not receive any extra funds from the ministry, though school districts will often provide additional services for them.

Patti Bacchus, chair of the Vancouver school board, said most districts spend more on special-needs students, on things like teaching assistants, than they receive in extra funding from the government.

The data provided by the ministry shows that some schools are dealing with a lot more challenges in the classroom than others.

For example, fully 71 per cent of the students at Creekside Elementary in north Surrey are classified as ELL.

And at Grandview Elementary in East Vancouver, 31 per cent of students are classified as special needs, the highest rate in the district, and more than half are ELL.