California’s Commitment to Adult English Learners: Caught Between Funding and Need

This report examines the discrepancy between California’s goal of providing free English classes and the reality that the current funding system for providing classes is about 30 years out of date. During those 30 years, the state’s immigrant population has exploded. The gap between goal and reality has created an excessive financial burden on some local school districts-which provide most of the state’s English as a Second Language (ESL) classes-and may be forcing other districts to turn away immigrants who want to learn English.