For the first time in over a decade, the number of English language learners enrolled in Connecticut public schools fell this October, and some advocates are attributing the decline to families’ fears of immigration enforcement tactics.
Since 2014, English language learners have been one of the only groups with increasing enrollment, even as the number of total students across the state fell. And aside from 2020, when there was a dip from 2019 enrollment, the number of English language learners enrolling in Connecticut schools has increased by thousands of students each year.
But this year, districts saw major drops, totaling more than 2,000 students statewide, according to preliminary enrollment numbers. Hartford alone saw 365 fewer English language learners enroll, with Danbury and New Haven experiencing similar drops. Seymour saw the largest increase in English language learner enrollment out of all public districts — but it was only 21 more students compared to last year.
Michael Morton, the deputy executive director for communications and operations at the School and State Finance Project, a nonprofit nonpartisan policy organization in Connecticut, said these preliminary numbers are concerning.
“[It’s] a very significant drop,” Morton said. “For a population that has continuously increased, and for a lot of districts been the only demographic increasing, to see a decline is … impactful because presumably those students are just not going to school for a variety of reasons, fear being one of them.”
Some families are scared, community organizations say
Tabitha Sookdeo is the executive director of Connecticut Students for a Dream, a grassroots community of immigrants and undocumented people. She said some of her members, who range from ages 14 to 25, and their families are fearful.
Trump’s crackdown on immigration is taking a toll on child care workers
“I’ve heard stories of their younger siblings or much younger siblings not being sent to school,” Sookdeo said. “At least a high schooler has the ability to think through what solutions might be, how to act quickly on their feet if there’s an ICE presence.”
Parents may be hesitant to be away from younger kids, Sookdeo said.
“When it comes to very young children, I think many families are terrified of what that might look like to be separated from them, and in a worst case scenario, their children having to wait forever at a facility,” Sookdeo said.
Sookdeo said she’s heard from many people in the state that enrollment has decreased in schools because “folks are just really scared.” And along with public school enrollment, Sookdeo said, she has seen a decrease in the number of students interested in attending college, with fewer students participating in the organization’s college access program.
This could be due to a number of factors, said Sookdeo, including increased immigration enforcement.
“If I can’t even walk down the street and feel safe, why would I even think to go to college? I think we have some of those sentiments,” Sookdeo said. “I think there’s also just a general decline of this generation of students wanting to go to college and to think through alternative means, because it’s so expensive.”
In the public school system, some districts have had to readjust their learning environments to accommodate the change. Madeline Negrón, the superintendent of New Haven public schools, said the drop is “atypical.”
“Often as we’re getting ready to begin the academic year, we would find ourselves with a lot of students and families coming in from other countries, which meant that we would have to either open a seat or open up classrooms, particularly in our new arrivals program,” Negrón said. “This year we did not have to open a seat … I actually had to close down a classroom.”
Some districts saw more than 300 fewer multilingual students. The district that saw the highest increase in multilingual learners is Seymour, which saw an increase of just 21 students.
Overall, New Haven saw English learner enrollment drop by 331 students, down 7.3% from last October’s preliminary numbers, the second highest drop in the state. Hartford saw the highest drop.
Schools do not collect data on immigration status, and FERPA prevents data sharing of student information with outside agencies including ICE and police departments. Districts across the state have been working to reach families, assuring them that school is a safe place for students. But the numbers worry Negrón.
“My biggest fear is exactly that,” Negrón said, “that the fear will eventually take over families where they’re no longer going to send their children to school.”
A community well-being survey conducted by DataHaven, a nonprofit organization producing data for the state, found that 31% percent of Connecticut residents worried a lot or some about either their own immigration status or someone close to them. 10% worried “not much.” Of those who worried about immigration status, 19% of those surveyed either have avoided work, school or community activities themselves, or know someone who has.
Other questions in the survey, which was conducted from August to October of this year, found that some Connecticut residents are avoiding the doctor, and some are having trouble eating and sleeping. Overall, these worries and actions were heightened for Latino residents.
However, not all districts believe the drop in English learner enrollment could influenced by fear. Hartford superintendent Andraé Townsel said he has not heard that that Hartford families are scared to send their children to school.
A city of Hartford school. S.A.N.D. School. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
“I’ll say the main reasons for the drop, we hypothesize to be,” Townsel said. “No. 1, there are fewer newcomer students due to the immigration-related concerns with policies at the federal government level and shifting migration patterns.”
But Townsel also attributed the drop to issues like housing availability that influenced some families to move out of state, a district-wide enrollment drop due to school choice and the repeal of the religious immunization exemption.
The Connecticut Department of Education acknowledged that the preliminary figures suggest a decline in the number of students identified as English language learners and multilingual learners but stated that the number of these students remains at a little over 11% of the state’s population, consistent with last year.
The overall population of students in Connecticut schools continued to decline this year, following the trend of past years.
So, what are districts doing?
In New Haven, Negrón said the district and city did extensive work to reach vulnerable families and gain their trust in preparation for the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns.
“It has been a lot of communicating with the community at large to reiterate the importance of students being in school every day, because it is through gaining in education that, often, kids are going to be better off and families are going to be better off,” Negrón said. “I continue to reiterate to my families all the different protocols that we have established to ensure that we still have safe learning environments.”
Negrón said there are requirements before New Haven schools open their doors to anyone, and the district has established protocols in the case of ICE presence. And in Hartford, Townsel said, school leaders receive training to review all protocols regarding immigration enforcement.
“I think all we can do is provide the best education system possible, and then as different variables in society happen, we respond to it,” Townsel said.
Hartford has established guiding principles, emphasizing that immigration status of a student is irrelevant to their right to a public education.
The state recently adopted a new framework regarding English language learners and multilingual learners, reinforcing Connecticut’s stance that schools are safe, welcoming and “culturally responsive learning environments.” The framework, which has been in the works for four years and will be distributed to districts, lays out initiatives to implement evidence-based practices for instruction, teacher training and school-family relationships.
More industries want Trump’s help hiring immigrant labor after farms get a break
Negrón said she is “proud” of her district work and is “extremely grateful” that families are trusting the district with their children. And it seems this trust could be showing up in attendance numbers.
Across the state, chronic absenteeism, which spiked among English language learners in January and February after Trump took office, fell in March and continued to fall into the current school year. The state has been working to keep these numbers down after they rose during the pandemic.
Being “chronically absent” means a student is not in attendance for 10% or more school days. And while districts are happy the number of chronically absent students is falling, some have concerns.
Chronic absenteeism falls again, after spiking in February
While the percent of English learner students who are chronically absent is still higher than the total student percentage, both fell in March, and continued to decline in October.
Sandra Faioes is the assistant superintendent of business and operations for Norwalk public schools. She said the rate of chronically absent English language learner students in her district dropped by 3%.
“With chronic absenteeism … three percentage points is a really big deal,” Faioes said. “Our daily attendance rates, those are higher, obviously, because they’re absent less. What we’re suspecting is that we may have fewer families.”
Norwalk saw a 6.58% drop in English language learner enrollment this year compared to last year, or 176 fewer students. And compared to October of last year, chronic absenteeism among English language learners fell from 21.7% to 18.9% — nearly 3 percentage points.
Despite the significant drop in chronically absent students, Faioes is worried that the district’s attendance is improving because there are fewer students with more complex needs.
“It begs the question, is your attendance better?” Faioes said.
Since English language learner enrollment dropped, Faioes wondered if the fall in chronic absenteeism was, in part, because a higher percentage of English language learners in the district are documented.
Trump restricts migrant work permits in immigration crackdown
“When they are documented, they have different tools in their toolbox,” Faioes said. “Because an undocumented family already comes with some disadvantages.”
However, since immigration status data is never collected by schools, it is impossible to determine which students are attending school and which aren’t enrolled.
Morton had similar concerns as Faioes about the statewide data.
“Are more students attending class who are multilingual learners?” Morton said. “And how does that compare to the number of students who are multilingual learners that we think are just not enrolled in school at all?”
What could this mean in the long-run?
This decline, if it continues, could impact school funding — and in more ways than one, Morton said.
While a decline in population generally impacts the amount of funding a district receives, fear surrounding data sharing could also have some influence over funding.
Based on how many low-income students a school has, measured partially through the number of students eligible for free and reduced lunch, a school may qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision. The federal program provides free lunches for all students in high-needs schools, among other things. But Morton is worried that families may not sign up for the program and schools may lose their qualifications.
“If parents are fearful of sharing any data with a district about their needs, and [not] filling out forms for free or reduced price lunch, then those numbers could go down for a district, which impacts funding, particularly at a time where your district’s eligibility for the Community Eligibility Provision may be up in the air because of changes to SNAP eligibility,” Morton said. “All these things are connected, and I don’t think people always fully understand how they always connect back to school funding.”
Morton is also worried about the future of districts, as total student population continues to decline. He said a low enrollment rate could affect the operations of districts and schools.
“If we continue on the pace that we are for enrollment, which could present a number of challenges for districts that need to potentially consolidate or regionalize,” Morton said, “that could mean closing schools because they’re underutilized. It could mean combining with another town to form a regional school district.”
A continuing loss of English language learners could make things worse.
“If you have a continuing declining population of multilingual learners, and that’s been your primary driver of increases in enrollment and nothing else changes, that’s something for districts to be aware of,” Morton said. “Particularly when you’re doing their enrollment projections.”
Preliminary numbers, which do not include pre-K students, show a proportional decline in English learners, said the state Department of Education. Official enrollment numbers will be released on EdSight in mid-February.
Sasha Allen is a reporter for The Connecticut Mirror (https://ctmirror.org/ ). Copyright 2025 © The Connecticut Mirror.