California state superintendent for education Tony Thurmond has presented a bill, Senate Bill 48 (Gonzalez), that will limit the presence of ICE agents on school campuses. Thurmond also hosted a webinar to promote the expansion of dual language immersion (DLI) programs across California, affirming the importance of preparing students to succeed, compete, and lead in a multilingual, global economy.
SB 48, authored by Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez (D-33), is sponsored by Thurmond to address the safety concerns of immigrant families and to protect school funding that is projected to decline in some parts of the state as attendance is suppressed as a result of deportation fears at school. “We know that the fearmongering happening across our nation has disruptive impacts on children in our immigrant families, and it could cost California schools millions of dollars,” Thurmond said. California is one of a handful of states that still uses an average daily attendance system for attributing funding or the loss of funding to schools.
Approximately half of all students in California are members of immigrant families, in which at least one parent is an immigrant. One in five students in California live in mixed-status families, in which one or more parents are undocumented.
“All California children deserve safe school environments that prioritize student learning, regardless of immigration status,” said Gonzalez. “As chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus, I’m proud to be partnering with Superintendent Tony Thurmond to author this important legislation, which will prevent disruptions to student learning, keep children in school, and prevent families from being torn apart.”
In recognition of California’s uniquely multicultural, multilingual population, Thurmond hosted a webinar to promote the expansion of DLI programs. According to the California Department of Education, “DLI programs have shown to be an effective strategy for increasing student achievement and increasing enrollment in public schools. Parents have shown increasing enthusiasm for DLI and other multilingual learning opportunities, and multiple DLI schools have recently been awarded recognition as 2025 California Distinguished Schools, a distinction reserved for the highest-performing schools in California and those closing achievement gaps most rapidly.”