Education Department Dissolving Federal Office Serving English Learners
The Trump administration plans to do away with a federal office that oversees funding and programs for English learners.
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The Education Department plans to dissolve the office that supports the country鈥檚 5 million English learners.
The move comes as the Trump administration has called to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and to stop funding English language acquisition programs in the federal budget. The country鈥檚 English learner student population includes U.S. citizen children of immigrant parents as well as authorized and undocumented immigrant children, communities that are reeling from the .
The Office of English Language Acquisition . Last August, the Department that many states and school districts rely on to protect the rights of immigrant students.
Education Department officials said dissolving the office and assigning its work to offices doing related work would be better for English learners.
In an emailed statement, Assistant Education Secretary Kirsten Baesler said the changes would align work across teams within the department, reduce administrative burden, and 鈥渆mpower states to design integrated supports.鈥�
鈥淓nglish Learners should never be treated as a siloed program, set aside as an afterthought,鈥� Baesler said. 鈥淲hen English language acquisition is embedded across core priorities like literacy, academic content, educator preparation, and accountability, it receives the seriousness and sustained focus it deserves.鈥�
The Education Department informed Congress of the changes in a February letter. first reported on the moves and the letter Tuesday.
According to the letter, distribution of federal Title III money that helps states educate English learners will be handled by the same office that distributes other large federal programs such as Title I.
罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 calls for eliminating Title III funding as a separate program, even as he also signed an executive order designating English as the official language of the United States. Congress last year disregarded a similar budget proposal and .
Training programs for teachers who work with English learners will move to the Office of Effective Educator Development Programs, the letter said. Language programs for Native American and Alaska Native children will move to the Office of Indian Education.
The changes do not affect the rights of English learner students under federal law. However, many advocates and educators said the office played a critical role in ensuring federal funds were spent appropriately and in sharing best practices and new research.
More of that responsibility now . While the Education Department says that shift is appropriate, many school districts historically have failed to meet the needs of English learners, leading to lawsuits.
The Education Department is in the process of , while programs related to educating Native American students are moving to the Department of the Interior.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .
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