The federal government has zeroed out an important – but often overlooked – source of funding for Philadelphia’s public schools: Title III, which has gone from $890 million to $0 in President Trump’s budget for next year. These resources are for our students who are classified as English Learners and immigrants — and dismantling this program is a major loss for Philadelphia, with long-term consequences.
Title III is one of several key federal supplemental entitlement programs legislated in federal education policy. These kinds of programs allocate funds — and lay out requirements for their use — to states and districts to support otherwise underserved and marginalized students.
Title III supplements state and local educational funding for students who are English Learners (ELs), a growing population in our schools. In the last 10 years, the share of students in the School District of Philadelphia who are ELs has more than doubled, from 9 percent in 2014-15 to 21.5 percent in 2024 to 2025, and represents over 100 home languages — including Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, and — increasingly — Portuguese.
The Trump administration recently announced it will release the Congressionally-approved Title III allotment for this year. But the release of Title III funds is no favor; these dollars were never theirs to withhold, and the administration’s budget for next year has completely zeroed out the line item for Title III, which has existed in its (mostly) current form for 25 years.
Title III policy, and the money that comes with it, recognizes that to learn in classrooms with English curricula, ELs need more resources so that they aren’t excluded from their legal right to a high-quality education in the US. The aim of this money is to — as quickly as possible — improve EL students’ English proficiency and support their academic achievement through evidence-based practices, services, and supports.
What does the District do with Title III funds?
Among other things, the School District of Philadelphia uses these funds to employ Bilingual Counseling Assistants (BCAs), who are fluent in the languages that ELs speak and work to make it easier for families to communicate with their children’s schools. BCAs were rated as the highest priority among Title III supports for EL students in a District-administrated survey of the public’s budget priorities for the District’s fiscal year 2026 budget.
Evidence suggests that Title III money is put to good use in the District, and by eliminating this funding, we are shutting ourselves off from some of our brightest students and stripping the next generation of students learning English from their opportunity to thrive.
For example, students who were once classified as English Learners but have since gained English proficiency are among the School District of Philadelphia’s highest academic performers, with strong achievement outcomes and high graduation rates. In fact, students’ formerly classified as ELs rates of scoring proficient or advanced on English, math, and science assessments are much higher than those of students currently classified as ELs and students who were never classified as English Learners.
Note: Table displays rates of proficiency levels on math Keystone and PSSA assessments by their English Learner status among all SDP students in the 2017-2018 school year. Data accessed here.
Why does it matter that the funds are going away?
By dismantling Title III funding, the Trump administration is depriving our District of its ability to nurture the talents and perspectives English earner students bring.
The underlying logic of Title III and related policies are not without criticism – many researchers and public education advocates have advocated for policies that do not center learning English as the end-all-be-all — recognizing that knowledge and learning can, in fact, occur in languages other than English. Also, many have long denounced federal and state funding levels as laughably inadequate for promoting equity.
Despite these legitimate concerns, Philadelphians should be worried about losing this money. The fact of the matter is that SDP needs this money to pay for critical supports for our youth who do not speak English with proficiency. While we agree that $890 million is not nearly enough, it goes infinitely further toward supporting English Learners than $0.
Eliminating Title III funding doesn’t just harm students learning English — it undermines Philadelphia’s entire school system and community. Research consistently shows that diverse classrooms — where students learn alongside peers from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds — foster empathy, cognitive flexibility and academic growth for all students.
Make no mistake, the gutting of federal education funding will not “return education authority to states” — there is no adequate funding source at the state level that can supplement these cuts. Title III funding is not optional; it is an essential support system for ensuring that every student has an opportunity to succeed, regardless of their language background. In Philadelphia, where one in five students are English Learners, the stakes could not be higher.
Dr. Alyn Turner is a sociologist and Senior Research Director at Research for Action (RFA), where she leads the Impact Team in conducting mixed-methods studies that promote equity and effectiveness in education. Sean Vanatta is a Senior Research Analyst at Research for Action (RFA) and a member of the Philadelphia Education Research Consortium (PERC) team.
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