English learner programs in Illinois schools face uncertainty amid federal funding cuts

English learners across northern Illinois schools are facing growing uncertainty as federal funding cuts and policy changes threaten the programs they rely on to learn in the classroom.

Since President Donald Trump began his second term a year ago, teachers and school administrators have struggled to keep up with an array of executive orders, proposed regulatory changes and cuts to the Department of Education, unsure how they could impact them.

English language learners are among the students who have seen the most challenges, northern Illinois administrators and teachers said. Many of these students are immigrants or are natural-born citizens who come from immigrant families.

Over the last year, the Trump administration has made significant changes at the Department of Education that have directly impacted English learner programs.

These changes include cutting a significant number of staffers, including almost all of the department’s personnel in the Office of English Language Acquisition, in March 2025 as part of the sweeping DOGE cuts, and rescinding guidance that established the rights of English learner students in August.

Trump also signed an executive order last March declaring English the official language of the U.S., and there have been repeated discussions of eliminating all Title III funding, which provides financial support for English learner programs.

At the start of this school year, most districts around the country had payment of their Title III funds delayed by about two months and were left unsure whether they would receive them at all.

“These are very uncertain times for many schools,” said Theresa Guseman, superintendent of Joliet Township High School District 204, where almost a quarter of the student population are English learners. “We’re expecting continual government cuts, but we don’t know what they’ll be yet. It’s hard to plan not knowing what’s coming, so we’re budgeting very conservatively to remain in a strong financial place.”

While the school districts Shaw Local spoke to said they have no plans to stop providing their English learner programs, keeping everything funded could become difficult.

“It (the Title III freeze) made it challenging to know how to plan,” said Monica Diaz, the director of bilingual and dual language programs for Harvard School District 50 in McHenry County. “A lot of our kids come in with zero English proficiency. We provide tutoring and social supports for incoming students as well as our dual language program, and we weren’t sure we would get the funds we needed to support those programs.”

Districts say those supports are often the first to feel pressure when funding becomes uncertain.

More than 300,000, or about 17.5% of Illinois students, are English learners, according to state data. Another 8% of students statewide have moved out of English learner programs.

“Funding is always a challenge,” said Tyler Pearce, curriculum director at Mendota School District 289, where about 60% of the student body is classified as low-income. “This year, our Title III dollars, which go to bilingual programs, were frozen by the federal government for a while, but we have to do what’s right for those students regardless. We ended up getting just a little less money than we did the year before, but we’re not sure what’s going to happen in 2026.”

Out of around 1,000 students in Mendota’s district, 22.5% are English learners, Pearce said. The district has created a bilingual program for students up to second grade, which provides instruction in Spanish, and has invested in headset translation technology to help older students learn while they adjust to English.

“We are never going to have enough language supports, but we don’t want to do anything that will give some students a less-than-equal education,” Pearce said. “We appreciate every dollar we get.”

Illinois was expected to receive between $218 million and $240 million in Title III funding for the 2025-2026 school year, which was only released after multiple states filed lawsuits against the Trump administration.

The state of Illinois attempted to compensate for the lost funding in multiple federal tier programs by increasing the budget for evidence-based funding, which provides financial support based on the need within districts, by $308 million in 2025, but it is unclear how far the state’s funding will go if the federal government continues to cut funding in 2026.

“We are sticking by our beliefs and still plan to have resources available for our students,” said Celeste Canfield, the language services director for Rochelle School Districts 212 and 231. “As of this year, we’ve not seen too much strain, but after this year, we may be seeing more.”

Rochelle schools have seen “an influx” of English learner students in the past few years, including some who have come to the U.S. from Central America seeking asylum, Canfield said.

“These programs have been impactful,” she said of the district’s dual language education system. “We want people to see that because we may have to work together to continue offering these opportunities to prepare our students for the future of our changing society, even though it has been communicated that funding is being eliminated.”

Rochelle’s districts received about $38,000 in Title III funding this year, which Canfield said was used for curriculum tools, supplies and teacher training. It is unclear what the impact on daily classroom activities would be if funding is cut next year.