The College Park City Council voted Tuesday to send a letter to the Prince George’s County Board of Education (BOE) in support of continued funding for the Chinese immersion program at Paint Branch Elementary School.

The letter came two days before the board is scheduled to vote on its proposed fiscal 2027 budget and follows a Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) decision to amend a plan to end the program, in which all Paint Branch students participate. The amended proposal suggests limiting enrollment to 25 students in each grade from kindergarten through fifth grade.

Under the alternative proposal, the school would take applications from parents for those seats—about a third of the number of students currently in the immersion program. If a grade receives more than 25 applications, the school would hold a lottery for the seats.

The council’s letter asks the board to fund the full program for all Paint Branch students.

“The program has become an important part of the broader educational ecosystem serving College Park residents,” the letter says. It was signed by Mayor Fazlul Kabir and copied to District 21’s state senator and delegates, each Prince George’s County councilmember and individual BOE members.

The letter says immersion offerings attract and retain families and notes, “Changes that significantly reduce immersion opportunities could undermine years of investment by educators, students and the community.”

Some Paint Branch parents have said they object to both the original plan to close the program and the alternative proposal—which PGCPS calls Option B—to restrict enrollment.

In a separate letter to Interim Superintendent of Schools Shawn Joseph and PGCPS Chief Academic Officer Judith White, Paint Branch PTA Secretary Alexandra Tyukavina called both proposals “inequitable. All students currently receiving immersion education should be able to finish it, unless their parents decide to opt them out.”

The existing program does not allow parents to opt their children out of immersion.

“The opt-out option must be added to make the program more equitable,” Tyukavina wrote.

She countered the county’s two options with a proposal for a third alternative that would address what the county has said is overstaffing at the school. The proposal would add an opt-out option and devote one full-day English-speaking teacher to students not wishing to take lessons in Mandarin. One group of immersion students would take Mandarin, science and math in the morning while a second group attends English, social studies and health classes in English. In the afternoon, the two immersion groups would switch.

“We, the Paint Branch school community, have found that the board’s proposal to eliminate the program is not the only way to address the budget issues, nor is it ideal for the students and families within the school,” Tyukavina wrote. “We have found that by strategically addressing the overstaffing and moving around unrestricted funds, this program can continue to exist.”

A 116-parent PTA poll found that 7.8% of Paint Branch families would opt out of immersion if given the choice, while 86.3% would stay. Another 6.9% said they are unsure.

Tyukavina also advocated for the continuation of Chinese immersion programs at Greenbelt Middle School and Largo High School, where Mandarin students who graduate from Paint Branch continue their Chinese language education.

PGCPS has proposed eliminating those programs once the current immersion students at each school graduate. Both schools would stop accepting new students starting next school year.

The PTA approach “will show that [BOE is] not focused on eliminating successful programs that have a proven track record just to address short-sighted budgetary issues,” Tyukavina wrote.

The Lakeland Civic Association also sent a letter to the board.

BOE member Jonathan Briggs (District 2), whose district includes Paint Branch Elementary, is hosting a virtual town hall meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25.