Despite federal effectiveness at curbing illegal immigration, most states still allocate extra money for students learning English, regardless of whether they are here legally.
All states apply a per-pupil funding formula for local districts. Above that base rate, 47 states and the District of Columbia provide additional money for English language learners.
The expanded rates range from $904 to $16,161 per student if that pupil is also low-income, according to the Learning Policy Institute, which estimates there are more than 5 million English learners across K–12 public education.
That includes nearly half the student population in the Dallas Independent School District.
President Donald Trump’s recent delay of $6.8 billion in federal education aid for a variety of programs, including Title III English language acquisition and migrant education, alarmed schools with significant populations of undocumented students or the children of illegal immigrants….