Trump administration ends federal oversight of BPS English learner programs

Boston Globe

15-05-2025

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Despite the scrutiny, parents and advocates continued to demand additional services and attention to English learners who still lag behind their peers while making up an increasingly larger percentage of the student population.
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On May 1, DOJ officials wrote to Superintendent Mary Skipper to say the agreement is now closed and the district is no longer subjected to additional review from the federal government.
Some parents and education advocates worry that removing the additional layer of accountability will lead to weakened programs for English learners. This comes at a time when they have
Suleika Soto, a BPS parent and advocate with the Boston Education Justice Alliance, said she is worried about the district reducing services for multilingual students, leaving parents with fewer choices.
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'The agreement was put in place because they weren't doing what they're supposed to do,' she said.
In a statement, a BPS spokesperson said the district remains committed to providing a high-quality education to multilingual students.
'Our work for our multilingual learners and families will absolutely continue. All federal and state laws protecting the rights of multilingual learners remain firmly in place,' the spokesperson said.
In a May 2 letter, Skipper notified staff about the DOJ's decision to end the agreement, saying that earlier this year department officials said several items in the agreement had been fulfilled and no longer required regular reporting from the district.
'While the formal DOJ monitoring chapter is closing, BPS remains committed to our systems of self-monitoring,' Skipper wrote.
The district did not answer the Globe's question about what the self-monitoring systems are.
DOJ officials wrote that closing formal monitoring does not prevent the department from conducting future compliance reviews or addressing complaints related to BPS's English learners.
Ending the agreement now 'struck me as being collateral damage to what's going on nationally with the Trump administration,' said Roger Rice, a lawyer with Multicultural Education, Training, and Advocacy, a Somerville-based nonprofit that advocates for the education of multilingual children.
This comes at a time when the Trump administration is scaling back on funding for the Department of Education and has
'This was a mechanism by which the federal government could hold Boston accountable to show what it was actually doing,' Rice said. 'They won't have to report data and facts to anybody in the world to look at. The parents won't know. The public won't know.'
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Rice said the same reporting the district provided to the DOJ should be available to the general public.
The agreement was 52 pages long and had specific requirements for the identification, testing, and placement of English learners. It laid out standards for instruction and teacher training, including guidelines for students with disabilities and those with interrupted education.
Another accountability measure is a
The district received state approval for 17 new English learner programs and they plan to implement a Cape Verdean Creole dual language program in the 2026-2027 school year, Skipper wrote in a letter to state leaders in March.
Suzanne Lee, a retired teacher and principal, said local officials must step in to maintain oversight and accountability.
'Based on history and based on experience, whenever there's not serious monitoring, things don't happen,' she said. 'I learned that as a principal. You only get what you ask for.'
In 2023, Lee was one of the nine members of BPS's English learners task force who
The district's plan is to integrate English learners into general education classes taught in English with the support of a multilingual educator, rather than spending entire school days in separate programs that include instruction in students' native languages such as Spanish.
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The goal is to have all students under the new plan by the end of the 2026-2027 school year.
Research shows that targeted instruction and support in elementary school is critical to make sure English learners catch up by later grades.
Learning in one's native language helps students to keep up with other disciplines, Lee said, adding she was placed below grade level when she arrived in the US from Hong Kong at age 11.
'If I had social studies and science lessons in my native language, I would have kept up with that knowledge,' Lee said.
Marcela Rodrigues can be reached at