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Illinois lawmakers have passed a bill that will help school districts expand dual language programs, in which students are taught in English and another language throughout the school day.
House Bill 3026 passed the Democratic-controlled Senate along party lines with a 43-12 vote on Thursday. The proposal now heads to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office for final approval.
The bill requires the Illinois State Board of Education to create guidance for school districts interested in establishing new dual language programs or expanding existing programs. The guidance must be completed by Dec. 15, 2026 and would be required to cover topics such as curriculum, instruction, assessment and accountability, and professional development for staff.
State law currently requires school districts to educate English learners through bilingual programs that are designed to help them become proficient in English, but school districts can also implement dual language programs, in which students are taught in both English and another language. This bill does not add requirements, but helps to provide a framework and best practices for school districts thinking about starting a dual language program.
Under the bill, the state board’s Equity Journey Continuum, a data tool used in the state report card to highlight gaps in students’ academic performance, would include dual language education and standards for dual language teachers that focus on hiring, retaining, and professional development. These changes would have to be made by July 1, 2029.
HB 3026 also would require the state board to create new pathways to biliteracy by July 1, 2027 for students before they enter high school. The pathways are a way for districts to acknowledge students who are proficient in English and another language and receive the state seal of biliteracy.
State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, the sponsor of the bill and a Democrat representing southwest Chicago neighborhoods and surrounding suburbs, said in an interview with Chalkbeat that dual language programs are personally important to him because he grew up in a multilingual household speaking Spanish, Arabic, and English. In addition to the academic and economic benefits of being bilingual, he said “simply being proud of your heritage” and keeping one’s language are important.
“I believe that it’s something that would help uplift students across the state, if we’re able to offer them these opportunities,” said Rashid.
While English learners are not the only students to benefit from dual language programs, the number of English learners in the state has grown and now make up 16.4% of Illinois’ student population, roughly 303,166 students, according to the Illinois State Board of Education’s 2024 report card. In 2023, there were 271,983 English learners, or 14.6% of the state’s student population.
Guide for schools to expand dual language programs
Rebecca Vonderlack-Navarro, vice president of education policy & research for the Latino Policy Forum, a Chicago-based advocacy organization supportive of the bill, said the groundwork for HB 3026 started in 2023 when lawmakers passed a bill requiring the Illinois State Board of Education to publish a report on dual language programs.
The final report, published in the fall, looked at no-cost, low-cost, and high-cost recommendations to expand dual language programs. HB 3026 has incorporated the no-cost recommendations from the report by requiring the state board to create guidance, adding in new requirements for the state board’s Equity Journey Continuum, and creating new pathways to biliteracy.
“What we wanted to do is write something that could be a resource for someone on the ground to take to their board, to either start or expand dual language,” said Vonderlack-Navarro.
Jorge Macias, a senior advisor for the Latino Policy Forum, worked to establish dual language programs across Chicago Public Schools as the former chief officer of bilingual education.
Macias said the district was “fortunate” to be able to use grant funding for partnerships and to pay for coordinators to work at schools to train educators where programs were launched. He said he hopes funding for schools improve so districts can provide training for teachers in dual language programs.
Chicago Public Schools currently offers dual language programs in 37 elementary schools and three high schools around the district, up from 12 elementary schools with dual language programs in 2016. A spokesperson for the district said in a statement to Chalkbeat that dual language programs often start in preschool or kindergarten and continue through eighth grade with a few options for dual language courses in high school.
A spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Education said in a statement that the board is in support of HB 3026 because it won’t add costs to districts.
“These programs promote bilingualism, biliteracy, high academic achievement, and cross-cultural competency—skills that are critical for college, career, and civic life,” the state board said in the statement “Being bilingual is a superpower, and the expansion of dual language programming will strengthen schools, communities, and the state as a whole.”
Support for English learners dries up at federal level
As the state board, state lawmakers, and education advocates continue to promote policy supporting English learners and literacy in more than one language, the federal government is taking a turn in the opposite direction.
In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order designating English as the official language of the U.S., which rescinded a policy made under the Clinton administration requiring federal agencies and organizations receiving federal funds to provide language assistance to English learners, according to a White House fact sheet.
The U.S. Department of Education also fired nearly all of the staff working for the department’s Office of English Language Acquisition, an office overseeing support for nearly 5 million English learners in K-12 schools and in higher education, and plans to merge the office with the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.
U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, who represents Illinois’ 4th District, which includes Chicago and nearby suburbs, along with three other Democratic Congress members said in a letter to the Education Department that the administration’s recent action for the Office of English Language Acquisition was “an outright attack” on English learners.
Still, Illinois advocates hope that dual language programs will have bipartisan support, since they serve all students and have some academic benefits for students.
“In a time when programs that are solely for English learners might be under attack, dual language is a program that we can reframe the conversation and bring people from all walks of life into the conversation,” said Erika Méndez, director of pre-K to 12 education policy at the Latino Policy Forum.
Samantha Smylie is the state education reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering school districts across the state, legislation, special education and the state board of education. Contact Samantha at ssmylie@chalkbeat.org.
