The leader of Chicago Public Schools on Tuesday reiterated his commitment to supporting bilingual education programs as CPS continues to absorb large numbers of migrant students.

CPS CEO Pedro Martinez on Tuesday met with a group of Latino leaders and parents at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy in the Little Village neighborhood. Between August and January, CPS welcomed 5,700 migrant students, mostly from Venezuela. After years of decline, CPS’s Feb. 1 enrollment figure of nearly 329,000 is up by 5,600 over the same date last year, CPS said.

Boosting bilingual education includes increasing teachers with training and certifications in the field and more tutoring for Spanish-speaking students in schools without bilingual teachers. Martinez said those nearly 6,000 students need a lot of academic support. They often lack stable housing, basic necessities, proper clothes or school supplies.

“Our schools have embraced them, we’re creating communities with them, of course. We still need a lot of support,” Martinez said. “We’re going to need continued support from the city and from the state. Our biggest population is in preschool.”

At Tuesday’s event, Martinez also announced an expansion of dual language programs, where students learn in both English and another language.

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Martinez said CPS this school year made new investments in its bilingual program, including extra money for schools receiving migrants.

But Latino advocates, parents and teachers say investments need to be significantly higher. They are putting a price tag — $188 million — on what is needed across all Illinois schools enrolling large numbers of migrant students.

“We know it’s very going to be very difficult given all the demands … but at least expect to elevate that in order to properly teach these students. We need an additional investment,” said Sylvia Puente, president and CEO of the nonprofit Latino Policy Forum.

Other advocates have said the budget proposed by Gov. JB Pritzker for the fiscal year that begins in July does not include enough money to fund schools with many migrant students.

While Martinez said CPS data shows it has more bilingual-certified teachers than ever before, parents and teachers say many bilingual classrooms are overcrowded.

“There is a huge difference between classrooms with only English speakers and classrooms with bilingual kids,” Marisol Aviles said in Spanish at Tuesday’s gathering. Her three children attend James Shields Elementary in Brighton Park. “Those classrooms have too many kids and we are advocating for more bilingual teachers so that they can also have learning quality.”

Some teachers say there are educators with bilingual certification who are serving in administrative roles, but that keeps them out of the classroom at a time when many students need extra help.

Maria Pilar Moreno is a bilingual coordinator at Richardson Middle School on the Southwest Side.

“We’ve had fifth graders that are reading at a first grade level in Spanish. We need to catch them up in Spanish, then we can transition them to English. So we are struggling with that just in their native language,” Moreno said.

Adriana Cardona-Maguigad covers immigration for WBEZ. Follow her on X @AdrianaCardMag.