2025 State English Learner Legislation Wrapped

2025 was a calamitous year for public education. Since the beginning of the year, the Trump administration has implemented severe actions to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (ED) including staffing and funding cuts and transferring key responsibilities to other federal agencies. The full impact of these reductions is yet to be known, but one thing is certain: no student has been left unscathed, including the nation’s 5.3 million students identified as English learners (ELs).

The Trump administration wants to eliminate Title III funding, the only federal grant program specifically geared towards supporting ELs and recent immigrant students in the classroom; fired nearly all of the staff at the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA); declared English the “official language” of the U.S.; rescinded the Dear Colleague joint guidance letter issued by ED and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2015 which has served as a pillar of support for states and districts in ensuring they fulfill their legal responsibilities to ELs; moved to cut undocumented children off from Head Start; and has launched a campaign to strip away undocumented students’ access to in-state tuition.

As federal support crumbles, states have even more responsibility to protect children’s civil rights and work toward an equitable education system that effectively serves all students. Below are snippets of state legislation adopted in 2025 aimed at enshrining ELs’ civil rights protections, boosting funding, and improving transparency and accountability over EL education.

Enshrining Civil Rights

The current federal climate poses a threat to long-standing legal and policy frameworks that have protected English learners for decades. Earlier this year six state legislatures were considering restricting undocumented students’ access to a free public education in a direct attack on the long-standing Supreme Court decision known as Plyler v. Doe. And the decision to rescind the policy that prohibited immigration enforcement in certain areas— including schools—has inflicted a level of fear and anxiety among immigrant origin children that is forcing them to stay home in alarming numbers. Here are some examples of how states are countering these threats.

Colorado- SB 25-276: Among its many provisions, this bill affects the civil rights of children in public schools in two ways. Starting on July 1, 2025, public child care centers, public schools, local education providers, public institutions of higher education, public health-care facilities, and publicly supported libraries will not be allowed to collect the following information, except as required by federal or state law, and as necessary to perform duties: place of birth; immigration or citizenship status; or information from passports, permanent resident cards, alien registration cards, or employment authorization documents. The public facilities listed above are required to adopt and implement a policy on how to access sensitive information, facilities, or property by September 1, 2025. The bill also creates a civil penalty for an intentional violation of certain requirements. And, the bill changes the criteria used to allow a person who does not have lawful immigration status to qualify for in-state student tuition classification.

Connecticut- HB 7066: Among its various provisions, this bill requires every superintendent to designate at least one administrator at each campus to serve as the person responsible for interacting with federal immigration agents and representatives. The designated administrators will be responsible for implementing the school security and safety plan protocols when interacting with federal immigration authorities. Additionally, the designated administrators are authorized to request and record a federal immigration representative's identification, including their name and badge or identification number. And the administrator is authorized to ask federal immigration representatives if they have a warrant and require them to produce it. Designated individuals cannot be disciplined, suspended, terminated or otherwise punished for fulfilling their responsibilities under this new law.

Illinois- HB 3247: Among other provisions, this bill codified that no child can be denied a free public education through secondary school based on the child's or parent’s perceived or actual citizenship or immigration status. The bill also includes various provisions to protect sensitive personal data and requires schools to develop procedures for reviewing and authorizing requests from law enforcement agents attempting to enter a school or school facility by July 1, 2026.

Massachusetts- SB 2575: Among other primarily fiscal provisions, this bill codified that no person can be denied access to public schools based on immigration or citizenship status, or disability; ensures that special education protections for ELs with disabilities are preserved by codifying 2015 federal guidance ensuring that schools meet the needs of these students; and requires that interpreters who are fluent in both languages and trained in ethics, confidentiality, and educational terminology are provided to parents.

Increasing and Tailoring Funding

State and local revenue combined make up 80 percent or more of every state’s total K–12 education funding. However, this funding is not distributed equally among districts. A 2022 analysis of school funding equity found that schools and districts where ELs are concentrated receive 14 percent less state and local revenue compared with districts with the fewest English learners. A roundtable of prominent school finance and EL education experts convened by New America in 2023 determined that current funding methods are inadequate to meet the needs of EL students. Funding systems lack nuance to differentiate among the diverse EL population. And, EL funding decisions are often influenced by politics rather than by research on the services proven to result in the best outcomes. Here are some examples of how states are changing their state education funding systems to account for ELs.

Utah- HB 42: This bill provides emergency funding to schools experiencing a significant increase in English learner enrollment. A LEA is provided additional EL funding if enrollment of these students in a school within the district increases by 75 percent or more above the previous three-year average enrollment and 30 or more students above the previous three-year average enrollment. The additional funds must be used to provide training or certification to teachers on the instruction of a student learning English; reduce the number of students learning English in a class; hire an aide to assist with students learning English in the classroom; or provide other resources specific to the needs of a student learning English. LEAs may not use these funds for administrative expenses. [1]

New Mexico- HB 63: This bill makes various changes to the public school funding formula including the creation of a new multiplier, the English Learner Program Unit, to increase the amount of funding allocated to ELs. School districts and charter schools are eligible for this funding if they establish certain EL services to help them attain English language proficiency in a “reasonable period of time.” The bill defines “services” as “research- or evidence-based social, emotional or academic interventions designed to improve student achievement and sustain student progress,” that are culturally sustaining and grade-level appropriate. The additional funding will be calculated by multiplying the three-year average EL rate x membership x 0.33. Students who have been reclassified as fluent English proficient in the previous two school years are included in the three-year average rate.

Texas- SB 2185: Current law gives the Texas Education Agency (TEA) the authority to provide additional funding for students in bilingual education programs. This additional funding is conditioned on bilingual education teachers holding the appropriate certification, but the shortage of certified bilingual teachers means that many schools are not receiving the funding. This bill addresses this issue by authorizing public school districts to receive the additional bilingual education allotment if the districts offer alternative language education methods that meet the needs of their emergent bilingual students and are approved by the TEA, including dual language programs. Eligible school districts can receive an annual bilingual education allotment that is 15 percent above the basic allotment for an emergent bilingual student and 5 percent above the basic allotment for a student not considered an emergent bilingual student.

Improving English Learner Education

English learners are a heterogeneous group of students whose diversity is often inadequately accounted for in data and accountability systems. ELs are racially and linguistically diverse, with the majority being U.S. born. Some ELs are recently arrived immigrant students, including refugees or asylum seekers who have experienced interruptions to their formal education. ELs are also disproportionately identified as needing special education services, while others have been labeled as long-term ELs because they have languished as an EL for more than six to seven years. Here are some examples of how states are improving transparency and accountability to account for the varied needs of EL subgroups.

Nevada- AB 335: This bill makes various changes related to EL education. First, it requires the superintendent of each school district to appoint an administrator to support ELs and calls on school districts’ boards of trustees to ensure that each licensed teacher receives training about English language acquisition.

Furthermore, existing law requires the principal of each school to prepare a plan to improve the achievement of its students. This bill requires the primary focus of this plan to be closing gaps in achievement, if any, between ELs and their English-proficient peers if at least 10 percent of students enrolled are ELs. Additionally, this bill requires data concerning ELs collected and maintained in the statewide accountability system to be disaggregated into subcategories.

The bill also makes various changes to newcomer education, including the stipulation that a newcomer may remain in high school for a maximum of 10 semesters after the student was scheduled to graduate or until they are 21 years old, whichever is earlier. Additionally, the bill exempts newcomer achievement data from negatively impacting the performance rating of the school, district, or any employee involved in their education.

Lastly, the bill requires the Department to establish an English Learner Advisory Council during the 2025 school year to study policies to support English language acquisition, development, and literacy.

SB 52: Existing law requires the board of trustees of each school district to submit an annual report to Nevada’s Department of Education that includes various details about the EL population enrolled in their jurisdiction. For this report, the bill changes the definition of long-term English learner to “a pupil who has been classified as an English learner for more than 6 consecutive years after the pupil was first identified as an English learner.”

Nothing can replace the federal government’s role in ensuring civil rights are equitably enjoyed by all students in the country. However, these bills are an example of how states are stepping up to protect their students and families and offer other states a path forward in doing the same. And while this has been a year of unprecedented blows to public education, the ability of states to move forward with their normal order of legislative business offers a glimmer of hope for civil society actors interested in protecting public education for the remainder of this administration.

[1] On December 8, 2025, KUER reported that no LEA qualified for the emergency funds allotted by this new law because no school met the criteria specified in the bill.