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This virtual conversation with Dr. Brenda Lewis, the Superintendent of Fridley Public Schools in Minnesota, hosted by the National Center for Youth Law, will take place tomorrow Wednesday, March 11 at 4-5pm ET. REGISTER TO JOIN FREE WEBINAR ICE enforcement during Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota has completely upended life in Fridley Public Schools. In Fridley, immigrant staff have been escorted to school by colleagues, the superintendent conducted daily patrols for ICE agents, and fear of ICE enforcement has sown fear among students and families. Despite the federal occupation, Superintendent Lewis has earned respect from leaders across the country for her outstanding leadership in recent months, fighting to advance access, opportunity, and belonging for all of her students. As Superintendent Lewis noted recently before addressing the People's State of the Union, "As a superintendent and lifelong educator, I’m looking forward to speaking out about the unacceptable reality our school district has endured at the hands of a federal agency - and to make sure this never happens to another school district in the nation again.” Superintendent Lewis will discuss: How educators should prepare for and respond effectively to immigration enforcement activities in their communities. What worked best for her district for protecting and supporting students. Issues like student absenteeism and retention, as well as funding issues that have the potential to harm students now and in the future. What advocates and policy makers should know as they build systemic protections for schools and students in the future.   The discussion will also include an opportunity for questions and answers.

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Update as of February 13, 2026: 

Great news for English learners and multilingual communities - Title III is level-funded at $890 M in the newly approved federal education budget! This means continued support for language acquisition and academic achievement nationwide. Let’s celebrate and keep advocating for equitable education funding! Read more in EdWeeks article. ACLUs press release also covers how the Department of Education is backing down on its unlawful directive targeting educational equity.

EL student and teacher funding is in danger again! Congress needs to hear from you before the end of the month.

Congress is currently in FY 26 budget talks regarding education funding, with appropriations potentially happening as early as this week. Last year the Senate Appropriations Committee put forth a bill that keeps most program funding at the same level. However, the House Appropriations Subcommittee moved forward a markup that would eliminate or reduce funding supporting educators and ELs at all levels.

If the House version passes, this would impact schools' ability to:

• Provide language instruction programs and targeted academic support
  
• Offer critical professional development for teachers of ELs
  
• Ensure proper planning, staffing, and budgeting for the 2025-26 school year

Help Protect EL Federal Funding

We need you to act now! The bill now goes to the Senate for debate and, hopefully, passage next week before January 30, when the current continuing resolution funding the government expires. Express your support for the Senate Version of the Education Appropriations Bill and tell them funds for EL students and educators must be protected.  Thank you to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Illinois Resource Center (IRC) for leading the charge on this campaign. Cross-posted on Public Statements page.

Dear educator,

As a leader in a Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) district, we are writing to offer you the opportunity to support your program(s) by expanding the use of performance assessment, providing more accurate, equitable, and actionable measures of student learning. 

As you know, your DLBE program works to develop bilingualism and biliteracy through content and language instruction in and through two languages (a partner language and English) simultaneously, meeting the same state standards as general education programs. Because these goals of bilingualism and biliteracy diverge from the goals of typical EL programs, English-medium assessments alone are not valid for the population of students in DLBE programs (which can include both EL and non-EL students). Looking at students’ academic proficiency using both languages of instruction provides a more accurate picture of their knowledge in the content areas as well as their language proficiency across both languages. When we can assess in both languages and analyze the results holistically rather than as two separate data sets, we get a clearer picture of students’ complete range of both conceptual and language knowledge. 

Finding valid, reliable, and comparable standardized assessments in languages other than English is quite challenging for DLBE programs. Performance assessments are uniquely well-suited to DLBE programs because they solve this problem. 

Why Performance Assessments 

• Equitable: English-only assessments do not fully reflect DLBE students’ knowledge or skills. Performance assessments can be designed in students’ home languages and/or bilingually, differentiating between language proficiency and conceptual understanding, so all students can demonstrate what they know and can do. 

• Comprehensive: Performance assessments capture both content mastery and language use, providing a fuller picture of students’ knowledge, skills, and thinking. 

• Reliable: Standardized tests in multiple languages can be difficult to find. Performance assessment uses rubrics that can be applied consistently across languages, providing reliable evidence without requiring tests in multiple languages.

• Culturally-relevant: Performance assessments can be designed to be culturally relevant, allowing DLBE students to leverage their sociocultural knowledge and skills, while supporting identity development. 

• Actionable: Performance assessment generates detailed evidence of students’ knowledge, skills, and thinking processes, which can be used to inform instruction and support program continuation or expansion. 

Importantly, evidence from a recent two-year pilot showed smaller performance gaps between English Learners and their English-speaking peers, compared to those observed with MCAS scores. These results suggest that performance assessments show greater accuracy and equity in measuring student learning.

MCIEA Partnership Opportunity

The Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment (MCIEA) supports educators statewide in developing and implementing performance assessment systems. Key resources include: 

• Professional development in task design, implementation, and scoring.
  
• A growing, open-access Task Bank with 150+ performance tasks across grades and disciplines.
  
• A network of districts and schools that have embraced teacher-designed, curriculum-embedded performance assessments, grounded in both state academic standards and essential skills, to share effective performance assessment practices.
  

MCIEA Director of Performance Assessment, Nikki Holland, who we have copied here, will be following up this email to offer support and partnership in implementing performance assessment systems in DLBE programs. We encourage you to take advantage of the consortium’s resources and tools to enhance assessment practices in your respective DLBE programs. Nikki can be reached at snholland@umass.edu.

Sincerely,

Phyllis Hardy, MABE Executive Director

Meg Burns, MABE Director of Professional Learning

Susan McGilvray-Rivet, MABE Associate 

Cutting Title III is cutting futures. Help us safeguard FY26 funding for the 5.3M English Learners nationwide who need it most.

The House Appropriations Committee is poised to approve massive cuts to critical language education programs in its Fiscal Year 2026 Labor HHS Education bill. The proposal slashes $12 billion from the Department of Education – cuts that would be paid for in part by the complete elimination of programs vital to our communities, including: The House Appropriations Committee is poised to approve massive cuts to critical language education programs in its Fiscal Year 2026 Labor HHS Education bill. The proposal slashes $12 billion from the Department of Education – cuts that would be paid for in part by the complete elimination of programs vital to our communities, including: ESEA Title III: English Language Acquisition ESEA Title II-A: Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants HEA Title VI: Fulbright-Hays These eliminations will roll back decades of progress in bilingual and multilingual education, hurting students, educators, and communities nationwide! There is a better path forward: the Senate version of this bill protects these programs. But the House vote is expected within the week, and your voice is critical now.  Send Message To Representative

Join us in partnership with the Joint National Committee for Languages, NABE, and allies across the country in urging your House members to reject these damaging cuts and restore full funding for language education.Join us in partnership with the Joint National Committee for Languages, NABE, Dual Language Education of New Mexico, and allies across the country in urging your House members to reject these damaging cuts and restore full funding for language education. We have one week. We need your voice. Equity and opportunity for English Learners can’t wait. NABE's Advocacy Toolkit: Protect Title III Funding (FY26) has sample emails, phone scripts, and social media posts.

PUBLIC STATEMENT

MABE and NYSABE join NABE in their June 25, 2025 statement regarding Title III funding.

“Despite Congress appropriating $890 million in Fiscal Year 2025 for Title III – English Language Acquisition under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the funds have yet to be allocated.” This delay in release of these funds is not just an inconvenience – “it is a direct threat to the educational access, achievement, and well-being of more than 5.3 million English Learners across the United States.” 

This matters because: 

• “Title III funds are essential for providing language instruction, academic support services, and professional development for educators who serve ELs.

• The lack of funds is forcing state and local agencies to terminate contracts, lay off staff, and halt critical planning for the upcoming school year.

• English Learners make up over 10% of the K-12 student population, and any disruption in services undermines their academic growth and equitable participation.” 

• In New England, we have seen exponential growth of our English Learner populations over the last decade – 55% increase in CT, 12% in RI, and 46% in MA. The loss of Title III funding threatens the legal and effective operation of key language education programs to serve this growing population and their teachers.

• “While U.S. Department of Education Assistant Secretary Lisa McMahon announced on June 3, 2025, that allocations would be released, we have yet to see action. Without disbursement by July 1, 2025, schools and districts will enter the new academic year unprepared to meet the needs of EL students.”
  

With NABE, we “demand the prompt release of FY25 Title III funds by July 1. Together, we must ensure that the education and support of English Learners are never treated as an afterthought. Our students, educators, and communities deserve no less.”

CALL TO ACTION

MABE and NYSABE urge you to share this public statement with legislative leaders. You can take action in four ways: 

1. Email: Copy this sample letter - feel free to personalize it (such as adding your email signature so the recipient knows who you are). 

2. Call: Phone calls are one of the best ways to make an impact!Read this call script - feel free to personalize it (such as adding an introduction that identifies who you are). 

3. Share our social media posts about this: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter @MABEnortheast 

4. Tell your story. Click here to share with NABE what the impact will be for you personally and/or your school/district if the Title III funds are not released for this coming school year.

Your emails and calls can be directed toward four types of legislative leaders:

1. Chairs and Ranking Members of Congressional Committees related to Education (listed here)

2. Your Congressional Representatives and Senators

3. Your State Legislators (find your legislator for MA, CT, RI).
   Tell your state legislators how eliminating Title III funding will negatively impact your state and district! 
   

4. Your State Secretary/Commissioner of Education (listed here)

    
   
   

   
   
   
   
   
   

We write with deep dismay about the unwarranted and unprecedented Reductions in Force at the U.S. Department of Education (DoE), particularly with regard to the education of English Learners. We implore you to follow the swift legal response of the Attorneys General to halt and reverse this decision and demand the immediate restoration of critical English Learner education offices and employees.

The current Administration, via Secretary Linda McMahon, has enacted a near-complete Reduction in Force of the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA), authorized in the 1979 Department of Education Organization Act, effectively abolishing this office. OELA staff administers statutory funds connected to key English Learner programs, including ESEA Title III grants, which ensure English Learners have resources to attain language proficiency and meet academic standards. How will protected, statutory funds be dispersed with no staff? Furthermore, there is urgent danger with widening achievement gaps, as shown in recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores, eliminating OELA’s expert staff is deeply concerning and harmful to students, especially those in underserved groups.

OELA staff are dedicated experts in our field with decades of experience who meticulously administer and carefully monitor hundreds of millions of statutory dollars in active National Professional Development (NPD) grants to institutes of higher education and other organizations nationwide to support programs that prepare teachers of English Learners. The ongoing educational crisis related to the current teacher shortage in our region (the northeast, specifically MA, CT, and RI) is particularly devastating for schools with large populations of English Learners. These NPD grants are essential to rebuilding our English Learner teacher pipeline and their funds have been constitutionally appropriated by Congress. 

As you know, our region has seen exponential growth of our English Learner populations over the last decade (55% increase in CT, 12% in RI, 46% in MA) even with recent decreases in the overall student population (6% in CT, 5% in RI, 4% in MA). The loss of OELA threatens the legal and effective operation of key programs to serve this growing population and their teachers. We implore you to demand the Department reverse this decision and reinstate these offices.

Multistate Association for Bilingual Education, Northeast www.mabene.org
admin@mabene.org  
Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn: @MABEnortheast
MABE-Northeast, PO Box 281, Ashland, MA 01721

MABE invites you to share this public statement with your Representatives, Senators, and state Commissioner/Secretary of Education. 

1. Email Your Representative/Senator 

   • Find your Representatives and Senators here 

   • Enter your address/zip code into “find your member by address” 

   • Click on “contact” for Representative/Senator, which will lead you to their website where you can email/contact them  

   • Copy the highlighted message below and email your Representative/Senator - feel free to personalize it (such as adding your email signature so the recipient knows who you are) 

2. Call Your Representative/Senator. Phone calls are one of the best ways to make an impact! 

   • Find your Representatives and Senators here

   • Enter your address/zip code into “find your member by address” 

   • Find their phone number under “contact” 

   • Read them the first paragraph of the highlighted message below - feel free to personalize it (such as adding an introduction that identifies who you are) 

3. Email your Commissioner/Secretary of Education for your state

   • MA: Patrick.Tutwiler@mass.gov 

   • CT: Charlene.russell-tucker@ct.gov 

   • RI: angelica.infantegreen@ride.ri.gov 

   • NH: Louis.F.Edelblut@doe.nh.gov 

   • ME: info.doe@maine.gov 

   • NY: commissioner@nysed.gov 

   • If not listed above, look here or in your state’s official webpage which you can find 

4. Share our social media posts about this: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter @MABEnortheast 

You can also visit the Legislative Action Center at the Joint National Committee for Languages and the National Council for Languages and International Studies (JNCL-NCLIS) to compose your message. 

I write with deep dismay about the unwarranted and unprecedented Reductions in Force at the U.S. Department of Education (DoE), particularly with regard to the education of English Learners. I implore you to follow the swift legal response of the Attorneys General to halt and reverse this decision and demand the immediate restoration of critical English Learner education offices and employees.

The current Administration, via Secretary Linda McMahon, has enacted a near-complete Reduction in Force of the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA), authorized in the 1979 Department of Education Organization Act, effectively abolishing this office. OELA staff administers statutory funds connected to key English Learner programs, including ESEA Title III grants, which ensure English Learners have resources to attain language proficiency and meet academic standards. How will protected, statutory funds be dispersed with no staff? Furthermore, there is urgent danger with widening achievement gaps, as shown in recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores, eliminating OELA’s expert staff is deeply concerning and harmful to students, especially those in underserved groups.

OELA staff are dedicated experts in our field with decades of experience who meticulously administer and carefully monitor hundreds of millions of statutory dollars in active National Professional Development (NPD) grants to institutes of higher education and other organizations nationwide to support programs that prepare teachers of English Learners. The ongoing educational crisis related to the current teacher shortage in our region (the northeast, specifically MA, CT, and RI) is particularly devastating for schools with large populations of English Learners. These NPD grants are essential to rebuilding our English Learner teacher pipeline and their funds have been constitutionally appropriated by Congress. 

As you know, our region has seen exponential growth of our English Learner populations over the last decade (55% increase in CT, 12% in RI, 46% in MA) even with recent decreases in the overall student population (6% in CT, 5% in RI, 4% in MA). The loss of OELA threatens the legal and effective operation of key programs to serve this growing population and their teachers. I implore you to demand the Department reverse this decision and reinstate these offices.

Created in collaboration with MABE, Multistate Association for Bilingual Education, Northeast.

Read NABE's Position Statement Opposing March 1, 2025 Executive Order, signed in support by MABE (as a NABE Affiliate). 

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