Official Statement from JNCL-NCLIS on the U.S. Supreme Court Decision Regarding the Department of Education

Official Statement

The Supreme Court's decision to allow the President and the Secretary of Education to fire nearly half of  the Department of Education’s expert staff will have terrible consequences for our country. It creates a clear and dangerous pathway toward prohibiting or preventing the type of educational access that every student in this nation deserves—especially and including English language learners.

As a national advocacy organization focused on language education, JNCL is particularly disturbed by the impact this decision will have on opportunities for all learners to acquire English and at least one additional language—central to our mission. The Supreme Court’s ruling will allow the Department to remove 14 of the 15 employees  of the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA), effectively eliminating the only dedicated federal entity focused on supporting the academic achievement and English proficiency of multilingual learners. If literacy is truly a concern of this administration, then closing the office charged with collecting data and guiding national efforts to advance literacy for all learners will only create a fragmented and inequitable patchwork of educational experiences across states, dependent on local infrastructure and political will.

Likewise, the Supreme Court’s decision allows the Department to move forward with terminating employees who staffed the Office of International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE), which supports study abroad, international education, and advanced foreign language study in higher education, marks a major setback to our nation’s global readiness. Without a dedicated office to ensure that students in higher education have the opportunity to engage in study abroad and international learning, we severely impede our country’s ability to lead globally. These experiences are essential to building a workforce that understands the cultural foundations underpinning every interaction and language. Removing this federal support places American students at a distinct disadvantage in the global economy and weakens our national capacity in diplomacy, security, and innovation. Our nation has a responsibility to prepare students not only with core content knowledge but with the skills to understand and communicate with people from across the world. Language education is at the heart of full literacy, and multilingualism is an essential and critical skill for our economy, national security, and our children's ability to compete and collaborate in a globalized world.

JNCL and its national group of 300,000 advocates call on every person who cares about our children and their education -  every student's education -  to speak up.  Whether you are a professional, a parent, a student, a Congressional leader, or a Supreme Court Justice, it is important for every single person to share their stories and perspectives about how important educational opportunity for all learners is to us as a national community.

JNCL will continue to advance the values and goals that support comprehensive, globally-focused education for all learners in the United States. This includes a strong commitment to English language learners, sustained support for language education, and the prioritization of multilingualism—a hallmark of our nation’s strength.