Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on District Spending for English Learners

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly disrupted educational opportunities for English learner-designated (EL) students. To address these disruptions districts across the nation received unprecedented levels of federal and state funding. This study examines how California school districts responded to challenges faced by EL-designated students in the post-pandemic period, focusing specifically on how Local Educational Agencies utilized Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs). A comprehensive document analysis of 30 randomly selected LCAPs and an analysis of financial data revealed that despite unprecedented challenges and substantial additional funding, California school districts did not fundamentally alter their EL planning and spending approaches. Most districts failed to prioritize EL-specific spending, employing vague language or funding general categories that did not appear to directly target EL needs. Actions aligned with California’s EL Roadmap were rare and unevenly distributed, with districts serving smaller EL populations particularly unlikely to allocate proportional resources. The study suggests current planning and funding instruments like the LCAPs may be limited in their ability to generate targeted planning or ensure district accountability for EL-student services.