Declines in the number of English-learning students enrolled in Florida and Texas public schools during the 2025–26 school year were associated with an estimated $835 million to $890 million reduction in education funding across the two states, according to an American Accountability Foundation report obtained exclusively by Breitbart News.
The July 23 memorandum, issued by Thomas Jones of the American Accountability Foundation and addressed to the Republican Governors Association, attributes the enrollment changes to the Trump administration’s immigration-enforcement policies following several years of increases under former President Joe Biden.
“In Florida the news is good; in Texas, where the drop far outpaced the overall enrollment trend, the news is great,” the report states.
Florida classifies students actively receiving English-language-learner instruction under the designation “LY.” That population increased from 277,473 during the 2021–22 school year to 368,068 in 2024–25, an increase of 90,595 students, or 32.7 percent.
During 2025–26, however, the number fell by 23,641 students to 344,427, representing a 6.4 percent decline and the first decrease in the period examined by AAF.
AAF said the number of students entering post-exit monitoring continued to rise, which it argued showed that students were “not dropping out mid-program” and that the decline instead reflected fewer new English learners entering Florida schools.
The Florida Education Finance Program funds English-learning students through an English for Speakers of Other Languages cost factor of 1.165, or 16.5 percent above the base amount. Using a Base Student Allocation of $5,372.60, AAF calculated average total funding of approximately $9,122.93 per student during 2025–26.
Applied to the decline of 23,641 students, the organization estimated that the change was associated with between $215 million and $235 million in education funding.
Texas identifies English-learning students as “Emergent Bilingual” students. Their number increased from 1,108,883 in 2020–21 to 1,345,917 in 2023–24 before remaining nearly unchanged in 2024–25.
Preliminary 2025–26 data show that the population then fell by 54,749 students to 1,290,293, a decline of approximately 4.1 percent.
AAF noted that total Texas public-school enrollment declined by only 1.4 percent during the same period.
“The Emergent Bilingual population shrank roughly three times faster than the overall student body,” the report states.
Texas funds Emergent Bilingual students through its Bilingual Education Allotment. AAF estimated total state and local maintenance-and-operations funding of approximately $11,950 per student during 2025–26.
Applying that amount to the reduction of 54,749 students, AAF estimated that the change was associated with between $620 million and $655 million in education funding, including approximately $370 million to $390 million representing the state’s share.
The organization said the full per-student cost, “not merely the language-program premium,” was the appropriate measure because when a student leaves the public-school system entirely, “the state and its districts no longer fund that student at all.”
Combined, AAF estimated that the one-year declines were associated with between $835 million and $890 million in education funding across Florida and Texas.
“The data is clear — ending Biden’s open borders leads to a lower burden on education budgets,” AAF concluded. “Put more simply, supporting the President’s border-enforcement and deportation policies means more funding for your local schools — nearly one billion dollars in these two states alone, in a single year.”