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A top Illinois congressman is calling on Education Secretary Linda McMahon to reverse recent changes to the U.S. Department of Education office that provides support to over 5 million English learners nationwide.
In a letter sent Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García from Illinois, along with Democratic Reps. Juan Vargas of California, and Grace Meng and Adriano Espaillat of New York, called the recent firings of nearly all staff in the department’s Office of English Language Acquisition and the department’s plan to merge the department with the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education “an outright attack” on English learners. The “reduction in force” happened in March when the Education Department announced it was cutting staff by half.
The letter also called the abrupt change to the office “legally dubious” since the office was created by statute. In federal law, the Education Department is required to have a director over the Office of English Language Acquisition to oversee bilingual education programs and report directly to the department’s secretary. While the Education Department can shrink the office, it is not able to eliminate the office without congressional approval.
The Democratic lawmakers not only want the department to reverse the firing of the staffers in the Office of English Language Acquisition, but they also want to see the office operate as an independent office as it has in the past and to ensure that the office is enforcing federal Title III requirements, which are meant to ensure that English learners gain proficiency in English and meet academic standards.
The group of lawmakers wrote that merging the Office of English Language Acquisition with the already “stretched thin” Office of Elementary and Secondary Education “signals a blatant disregard for the needs of English Learners and will have catastrophic consequences.”
According to the letter, the office of English Language Acquisition was responsible for allocating $890 million in funding to schools through Title III and oversight into programs such as the Native American and Alaska Native Children in Schools grants to help native children learn English alongside indigenous languages, the National Professional Development grants program to address the bilingual educator shortage, and the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition, an online resource with data, research, and best practices for schools to support English learners.
Education Department officials told state education leaders in March that money for Title III will continue to flow to schools and there would not be any disruptions to programs.
English learners make up 16.4% of Illinois’ student population, roughly 303,166 students, according to the Illinois State Board of Education’s 2024 report card. The state received $56 million in Title III funding this school year.
Nationwide, there were over 5 million English learners in the fall of 2021, according to the National Statistics for Education Statistics. The federal government appropriated $890 million in Title III funds in fiscal year 2024.
The lawmakers who signed the letter want McMahon to answer their questions by April 30 regarding next steps for the Office of English Language Acquisition.
Samantha Smylie is the state education reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering school districts across the state, legislation, special education and the state board of education. Contact Samantha at ssmylie@chalkbeat.org.
