2026 TESOL-NABE Advocacy Action Days– TESOLers Taking Their Voices to Congress

Date: June 22-24, 2026

Update from TESOL International

U.S. federal support for English learners at all levels and the English language teaching profession is being diminished. From proposed funding cuts to the weakening of the U.S. Department of Education and its Office of English Language Acquisition, your voice has never been more important.

TESOL International Association, in partnership with the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), invites you to join the 2026 TESOL–NABE Advocacy Action Days on 22–24 June.

Together, we will navigate this evolving policy landscape through timely federal policy briefings and take action through coordinated meetings with congressional offices. This is your opportunity to stand alongside a national community of advocates working to protect and strengthen support for multilingual learners.

“Trump Sidestepped Congress on More Than $1 Billion in Ed. Spending Last Year” 

– EdWeek

The U.S. Department of Education took roughly $1 billion Congress appropriated for specific education programs during the first months of President Donald Trump’s second term and either spent it differently than how lawmakers intended or hasn’t spent it at all, the agency acknowledged in recently published budget documents

*Credit to Joseph Weitz at the ESCCO for compiling this update

Trump Steps Up a Campaign Against Teaching English to Immigrant Kids

Update from JOINT NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR LANGUAGES

April 21, 2026 | Washington Post

One year ago, the Trump administration gutted the Education Department’s Office of English Language Acquisition, which is supposed to help about 5 million students in public schools “attain English proficiency and achieve academic success.” By “gutted,” I mean cut 14 of the 15 staff positions in that office. Now the department has given Congress official notice that it plans to dissolve the office entirely.

As of 2021, students identified as English learners made up 10.6 percent of the total K-12 population, and they are considered “the fastest growing population of students in K-12 schools.” As you might expect, a lot of these kids are children of immigrants, both legal and illegal, and speak a language other than English at home. 

Regardless of your opinion on illegal immigration, it’s a good idea to help these kids become as proficient in English as possible. Particularly if you support President Donald Trump’s executive order designating English “the official language of the United States.”

The Trump administration offers several justifications for its effort to eliminate the Office of English Language Acquisition.

White House Releases FY27 Budget with More Cuts for Language Education Priorities

Update from JOINT NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR LANGUAGES

April 6, 2026 | Jon Bernstein

On Friday, the White House released its proposed FY27 budget, which consists largely of top line goals and select program increases and eliminations. Overall, the Trump Administration is seeking to increase defense spending by $1.5 trillion – a whopping 44% increase – and to partially pay for this increase through a 10% cut in non-defense programs, including education. Interestingly, the budget proposes relatively limited cuts to the Department of Education, seeking to reduce spending by 2.9% (or $2.3 billion) in total. The two largest K-12 programs are protected under the budget, though, with Title I receiving level funding and special education receiving a $539 million increase. Full details about the exact funding levels for each program were not provided. 

Already Congressional Democrats are assailing the budget, suggesting a long fight on funding awaits. Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) said in a statement: “After passing the largest cuts to health care in American history, all to fund billionaire tax breaks and give ICE more money than most militaries, President Trump now wants Congress to defund dozens of programs that help students so that he can send other people’s kids to fight a war with no justification.”

The Department of Education’s FY27 budget again takes aim at language education programs. In K-12, it would eliminate Title III English Language Acquisition and Migrant Education, both of which last year’s budget sought to zero-out. The budget justifies deleting the $890 million Title III program and $428 million Migrant Education program using a mix of rhetoric related to illegal immigration, low test scores and federal overreach as grounds. For Title III, the budget documents state: