Many districts mistakenly believe their legal obligations to English Learners are primarily a matter of federal funding, particularly Title III. This fourth and final brief in WestEd’s series on Multilingual Learners sets the record straight: Core legal responsibilities stem from landmark court decisions and laws that exist independently of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and federal funding cuts or rollbacks do not change what districts are legally required to provide.

The brief also challenges the zero-sum mindset that frames support for Multilingual Learners as coming at the expense of other students, leading many districts to build separate, parallel systems rather than inclusive ones from the start. Research shows that practices most effective for Multilingual Learners—including rich opportunities for language use, meaningful scaffolding, and bilingual instruction—benefit all students. Designing systems with Multilingual Learners at the center is simply efficient, research-grounded system design.

This is the fourth and final brief in the Reframing Common Myths About Students Who Are Multilingual series. Read the first brief in this series here.