Smithfield — School board members are looking for money to expand foreign-language programs in the lower grades.

Most elementary schools and about half of the middle schools don’t offer a foreign language. The biggest cost to do so would be in teachers needed, Associate Superintendent Keith Beamon told school board members last week. Last month, board member Fred Bartholomew asked Beamon to see what it would take to increase the schools’ offerings of a second language class, most likely Spanish.

East Clayton, Selma and South Smithfield elementary schools teach Spanish, and it’s an elective in the middle schools at Archer Lodge, Clayton, Cleveland, McGee’s Crossroads, Riverwood and Smithfield.

Beamon said studies show elementary students have the highest success rate at learning a new language. He added that studies say kids who grow up learning another language do better in their English classes too.

“This is where children learn quickest and best another language,” Beamon said. “The problem is resources, teachers.”

The state pays for teachers for core-curriculum subjects, so the board would have to find county money to pay foreign-language teachers. Ideally, Beamon said, each school would have one teacher who would teach in all grades. “You can reduce the number of teachers dedicated to it by having teachers who are bilingual,” Beamon said. “It certainly is a worthy, worthy thing to do. From the curriculum instruction side, we would love to have it.”

Bartholomew said he thinks the board needs to make this happen, and Superintendent Anthony Parker said he would look for money in the next budget year. He said state school leaders are in favor of this movement as well and that he would seek their advice for Johnston County.