Strengthening State Funding Approaches for Multilingual Learners
Across the country, students who speak a language other than English at home—and who participate in English language development programs—rely on schools to provide high quality learning supports. Yet states often face a persistent challenge: determining how much those supports should cost and designing funding models that meet the varied needs of multilingual learners.
To help state and local leaders address this challenge, AIR hosted a virtual conversation with leading education finance and multilingual learner experts on Friday, March 6, 2026. This session unpacked what the evidence says about effective funding approaches and explored how states can build finance systems that fairly and accurately reflect the cost of serving multilingual learners.
Participants gained actionable guidance on:
- How states allocate resources for multilingual learners—and the implications of different funding models;
- Ways to account for variation in student needs, program structures, and local contexts; and
- Policy considerations for ensuring access to learning supports across districts.
This webinar was designed for state education leaders, EL/Title III directors, policymakers, researchers, local education leaders, and others who are committed to building stronger systems for multilingual learners.
Presenters
Tammy Kolbe
Managing Researcher, AIR
Stephanie Vogel
Agency of Education, State of Vermont
Julie Lara
Director of Multilingual Programs, Ensemble Learning
Sam Aguirre
Chief Consortium and Policy Officer, WIDA at UW-Madison
