As the Trump administration continues its immigration crackdown, nearly half of New York City students who aren’t fluent in English don’t have access to the courses or classroom time that they’re entitled to by state law, according to a new report by the city’s comptroller.
The audit, released Monday shortly after the start of the new school year, found the local Department of Education did not provide 48% of a sample of students known as “English Language Learners” with legally required courses or minimum instructional minutes. The gap, Comptroller Brad Lander warned in a news release, is crippling students’ ability to learn the language and make progress in their classes.
“In the world’s greatest city of immigrants,” Lander said in a statement, “English Language Learner programs are the cornerstone of the city’s work to deliver equal access for all students, no matter what language they speak or where they come from.”
“Our audit finds that the DOE routinely denied this promise to thousands of young New Yorkers and their families,” the comptroller continued.
The scope of this audit, from July 2022 to March of this year, came as city schools have struggled to keep up with the needs of a growing population of English learners. Between the 2021-22 and 2023-24 school years, the number of students for whom English is not their first language surged by 17%, to about 174,000 children, according to the audit — fueled in part by a wave of migrants to New York.
The growth turned out to be a boon for city schools, which are funded per pupil and had been bleeding enrollment since before the pandemic. At the same time, it also expanded the responsibilities of a school system where now 19% of all students are English learners, the data showed.
But uncertainty for English learners has increased since the start of the second Trump administration, with the federal government rescinding guidance detailing their educational rights, and immigrant families of mixed legal status, or who are undocumented, being confronted with the president’s deportation agenda.
Meanwhile, the comptroller found that 41% of the English learners had teachers who were not certified in new language or bilingual education, raising concerns about the quality of their instruction.
Local education officials have acknowledged the problem, investing in programs that recruit teacher candidates from city schools, offering financial incentives to existing teachers to earn bilingual extensions or switch their existing certificates, and partnering with higher education programs. But a shortage of qualified teachers has persisted.
The audit also found the DOE was short on some bilingual education programs, and did not keep accurate or complete waitlists for the programs. School districts are required to create bilingual programs if there are at least 15 K-8 students in close grades, or 20 high school students in the same grade who speak the same language, though waivers may be granted. Last year, the comptroller found the DOE requested 150 waivers, the vast majority of which exceeded a five-year limit on such exemptions.
Onika Richards, a spokeswoman for the public schools, said the system has expanded hiring for English as a New Language and Bilingual Education teachers, added bilingual education programs, and offers 566 programs in languages including, but not limited to, Arabic, Bengali and Albanian.
“Well before the release of the auditor’s report, we had already implemented strategic, systemwide initiatives to strengthen language instruction, compliance indicators, and ensure equity in access to higher quality education,” Richards said. “Our message is clear: Every child, regardless of language background, will receive their mandated instruction and support through any medium necessary to thrive in the classroom.”
