Prince George’s County announced a bold plan to create schools for English-language learners, which has generated controversy in recent months on feasibility, economic and constitutional fronts.

Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) received a $3 million grant last June from the Carnegie Corporation, a New York foundation started by Andrew Carnegie, to build high schools designed for recent immigrants and English-language learners. Despite widespread support for international schools, the idea sparked a negative reaction within the local community and among minority rights watchdogs.

The English-language learner community would be placed in two “schools-within-a school”—one in Langley Park and one in Upper Marlboro’s Largo High School.

“Nowhere is the need for redesign greater or more urgent than in American high schools,” the Carnegie Corporation wrote in its abstract approving the grant.

The project is a collaboration between PGCPS and CASA de Maryland, a non-profit that helps poorer communities of immigrants. The International Network of Public Schools, which has developed similar schools across the country, is also involved.

“Students at international [schools] have higher graduation and lower dropout rates, and our schools have been recognized by the Department of Education and the Office of Civil Rights as successful,” said Alison Hanks-Sloan, who will be principal of one of the international schools,

The international schools have been challenged by multiple community groups, however. Students and parents from Upper Marlboro have expressed concern about a school divided into two parts, with conflicting systems and different students. And after the county reported a $59 million budget deficit in October, officials are wary of any new spending projects.

The most troubling problem may be the objection from the local chapter of the NAACP.

“You can’t have a school full of just a certain class of people,” county NAACP president Bob Ross said. He explained that since the schools would only teach Spanish-speaking students, they violate the 14th Amendment and are a step back towards segregation.

However, international schools are generally not a controversial concept. There are already over a dozen in the country, including Cardozo High School in D.C. So, could MCPS join its less-progressive compatriot in PG County and create an international school?