Last summer the MassINC Policy Center released a report highlighting the urgent need to better support the half million working-age residents in Massachusetts who want to improve their English to contribute to the state’s economy at their full potential. Lack of access to English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes has become a particularly large economic development impediment for Gateway Cities, where one in five workers has limited English. In nearly every one of these regional urban centers, demand for ESOL classes far outstrips supply. Vocational programs that integrate job-specific language instruction are especially scarce.
The Healey administration is working with the legislature to address this problem. The Governor made reducing the ESOL waitlist a cornerstone of a recent supplemental budget request, which spends down surplus proceeds from the millionaire’s surtax. Along with a $30 million appropriation for ESOL, the Governor included language calling on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which administers these funds, to coordinate with the Workforce Skills Cabinet and prioritize programs that train workers for in-demand jobs. The House and Senate versions of the supplemental budget preserved this directive, but the branches appropriated just $8.5 million and $10 million more to ESOL, respectively.
The administration’s plan called for spreading this one-time infusion of funds over two years. At $15 million more per year, this would have increased annual state support for the system by more than 30%. The House’s proposal, an additional increase of $8.5 million ($4.25 million for the next two years), is only around a 6% growth (after subtracting the $600,000 cut for the line item that all the branches included in their FY 2026 budget proposals).
While any funding increase is a victory in this difficult budget environment, it will take more than just additional dollars to improve the delivery of ESOL services in Massachusetts. The state needs a detailed strategy to increase coordination among the many providers and build a system that can respond dynamically to the ever-changing needs of students, employers, and communities. We have seen how the sands can shift rapidly in recent years. First with the pandemic and the switch to remote instruction, then the migrant crisis, and now with the severely destabilizing force of an economic downturn paired with ruthless immigration enforcement.
Legislation in the House and Senate (H. 2080 & S.1326) help Massachusetts take a step toward a system that identifies and meets needs more nimbly by creating an ESOL for Economic Mobility Coordinator at the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. This coordinator would be charged with guiding the production of a coordinated strategy and stewarding its implementation. Following the recommendations outlined in the MassINC Policy Center report, the legislation calls upon the strategy to explicitly identify the resources needed to meet demand for ESOL services, as well as strategies to increase investment in vocational programs, leverage community colleges, and support regional collaboration.
This legislation is backed by a diverse coalition, including several large organizations that operate predominately in the Boston area. Gateway City leaders can join these groups to help ensure that more funding for ESOL translates into more economic opportunity and growth in regional economies throughout our commonwealth.