Education Department quietly removes rules for teaching English learners

The Washington Post ^ | 6:00 a.m. EDT August 20, 2025 | aura Meckler and Justine McDaniel

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The move is an acceleration of President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring English the country’s “official language.”

The Trump administration has quietly rescinded long-standing guidance that directed schools to accommodate students who are learning English, alarming advocates who fear that schools will stop offering assistance if the federal government quits enforcing the laws that require it.

The rescission, confirmed by the Education Department on Tuesday, is one of several moves by the administration to scale back support for approximately 5 million schoolchildren not fluent in English, many of them born in the United States. It is also among the first steps in a broader push by the Trump administration to remove multilingual services from federal agencies across the board, an effort the Justice Department has ramped up in recent weeks.

The moves are an acceleration of President Donald Trump’s March 1 order declaring English the country’s “official language,” and they come as the administration is broadly targeting immigrants through its deportation campaign and other policy changes. The Justice Department sent a memorandum to all federal agencies last month directing them to follow Trump’s executive order, including by rescinding guidance related to rules about English-language learners.

Since March, the Education Department has also laid off nearly all workers in its Office of English Language Acquisition and has asked Congress to terminate funding for the federal program that helps pay for educating English-language learners. Last week, education advocates noticed that the guidance document related to English learning had a new label indicating it was rescinded and remains online “for historical purposes only.”

On Tuesday, Education Department spokeswoman Madi Biedermann said that the guidance for teaching English learners, which was originally set forth in 2015, was rescinded because it “is not in line with Administration...”

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TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: education; language

[BenLurkin]

If you assimilate and adopt local customs (such as speaking English) you are an immigrant.

If you insist on living the way people do in your grandparents’ foreign shtthole, then you are an invader.

Born here or not.

[usurper]

directed schools to accommodate students who are learning English.

Code speak for you have to teach them in their native language. Learning English was not the priority for the students and teaching English was not the priority for the school.

WaPo sucks.

[Ge0ffrey]

In Mexico, everything is done in Spanish. Period.

[RWGinger]

The many born here they refer too are anchor babies

[lee martell]

Thanks for interpreting the Codespeak. I was trying to determine what was and what now are the accepted rules of teaching American English to recent immigrants?
Now, its been made clear.

[wjcsux]

My dad grew up in NYC in the 1930’s. He told me that immigrants got mad at you if you spoke to them in their native language.

[pierrem15]

As a Sicilian boss I had many years ago said, "I din no see no signs-a in Italiano whenna I come-a to dis-a country!"

I learned English the old fashioned way-- led about by the teacher and having my butt kicked until I started to explain in both word and deed how I would whip my classmate's butts if they didn't stop making fun of my name.

One of the biggest favors the school did was provide a speech therapist so I wouldn't sound like Inspector Clouseau for the rest of my life.

Just about every European immigrant I've ever met and their kids like me have resented the constant politically motivated kiss-up to Hispanics.

[metmom]

My dad went to kindergarten not knowing a lick of English. Early 1930’s.

He didn’t respond to the teachers so they thought he was retarded. Then they finally figured out he didn’t know English, but spoke Ukrainian.

He graduated top of his class in high school.

And he was completely fluent in both languages with no accent in either. Just every once in a while the Ukrainian grammar would slip out and even though it was English, it was just worded differently enough. We noticed because we lived with him and heard him all the time but others never picked up on it.

[Reddy]

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but we briefly fostered a little girl born in this country in the midwest. She was 3 years old and did not speak ONE word of English. She only spoke Spanish.

We need to force assimilation by not accommodating non-English speakers. Come here to live, learn English.

[T. Rustin Noone]

I am reminded of a beloved former employer who arrived in the
US from Korea at age 17, not speaking a word of English. Five
years later she had graduated from the University of Illinois
with bachelor degrees in Architecture, Structural Engineering
and Interior Design. By age 30, she had created her own firm
hiring 65 employees and managing it successfully for 30
years.

These are the kinds of immigrants we can all support.

[SuperLuminal]

Exactly so!

[Socon-Econ]

We need to force assimilation by not accommodating non-English speakers. Come here to live, learn English.
**********
This worked well for the European “Statue of Liberty” immigrants of yesteryear, and it’ll work for for todays immigrants.