English learners and their families in the Roanoke City public school district in Virginia rely on specially trained tutors who help students improve their English-language proficiency during and after the school day.
These personnel play a critical supporting role for a student population that represents one of the fastest-growing groups in public schools in the country. In Roanoke alone, where total enrollment stands at about 14,000 students, the English-learner population doubled from about 9% to 18% in the last five years.
But these tutors are funded through federal Title III formula grants, a $890 million program that is part of the billions in congressionally appropriated dollars the Trump administration is currently withholding from schools.
While two dozen states filed a lawsuit on July 14 for the funds that should have been released by the start of the month, the delay is already disrupting districts’ spending plans nationwide. Many now find themselves pivoting to other funding streams or simply stuck in limbo as they wrestle with how to support their English learners in the upcoming school year and beyond.
“I cannot proceed with hiring or renewing a contract without knowing when I’m going to have the funds,” said Elizabeth Schenkel, the English-learner supervisor for the Roanoke City district.
“Maybe we won’t be able to hire [English-learner tutors] if we get the funds later, because they may have already accepted a job elsewhere.”
District leaders put expenses on hold
Title III dollars are intended for supplemental programming and materials that can help schools meet their federal requirement to ensure English learners acquire the English language. This includes family-engagement programming, instructional materials, and supplemental staff such as tutors or bilingual classroom aides.
Studies have found that as the national English-learner population continues to grow, not all classroom teachers feel prepared or properly equipped to support these students’ language development in academic contexts.
Professional development programs funded by Title III can help close that gap. For instance, Immigrant Connections, a small national organization, works as a vendor offering training for teachers on family-engagement best practices and the basics of immigration policy.
While most English learners are U.S.-born citizens, those who are immigrants may have additional social-emotional needs that teachers can learn to address through training, said Laura Gardner, the founder of Immigrant Connections.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization booked about three half-day trainings a week over the summer focused on helping students and families get ready to go back to school. Districts almost always paid through Title III funds.
This year, she has only one training confirmed for August and another tentatively scheduled for September, both dependent on whether the Title III funds are released in time, she said.
The Cincinnati public schools also rely heavily on Title III funds, especially for summer outreach. A team of bilingual faculty and staff helps families enroll, sign up for bus transportation, navigate school systems, and more, said Adam Cooper, the manager of multilingual-language services for the district.
But some of that work is now on hold, with the district leaning on community partners to fill gaps.
“We’re in a state of limbo,” Cooper said.
The Ohio district is also weighing how to proceed with planned back-to-school training for teachers working with English learners.
“It’s a constant call or plea for help from general education teachers who do not understand how they need to adjust instruction for a changing demographic of students in their classroom,” Cooper said.
Delayed funding could have long-term consequences
The Cincinnati district—which serves more than 33,000 students, 12% of whom are English learners—began its 2025–26 school budget in the winter, based on the assumption that Title III funds would arrive on time, Cooper said.
Now, supplemental instructional materials that have already been approved by the local school board are on hold. The district can’t enter into contracts until funding is guaranteed.
Even if Title III funds are released before the start of the school year, Cooper said the damage from the delay is already done.
“It takes time for us to enter contracts through our purchasing department, especially in larger districts like ours,” Cooper said. “This is kind of an anomaly, being on hold at a time when we’re not used to ever having to have this disruption.”
And such disruptions, Cooper said, can lead to higher student absenteeism and lower graduation rates among English learners.
In Roanoke, Schenkel said she’s at risk of not securing critical supplemental resources in time for teachers. Educators were particularly excited about new decodable text sets designed for secondary English learners, but she can’t buy them without the Title III funds.
She also can’t renew licenses for other programs that have helped boost students’ English-proficiency scores, tools that are key to helping them test out of English-learner status.
As educators hope for the federal dollars to be released soon, many worry whether they’ll receive them at all. The White House’s proposed budget for the 2026-27 school year calls for the elimination of the Title III program. Congress has yet to act on this proposal.
Some districts are already facing budget shortfalls. In Roanoke City, which has no carryover funds from previous years, leaders are racing to find alternative funding sources.
“In our district, students come first, so I imagine that we would make every effort to meet the fundamental needs of our English learners,” Schenkel said. “But I don’t know exactly how.”
