English learners should be in the room when policies are being shaped, but they rarely are

As a high school junior and student board member, I spend a lot of time in meetings about education. But at one of them recently, I realized something I couldn’t stop thinking about afterward: I almost never saw English learner students in the room.

Not at student representation panels. Not at public forums or student program presentations. Not even at district English Learner Advisory Committee meetings. 

California has the largest English learner population in the nation, with more than 1 million English learner students in public schools — about 17% of the state’s K-12 enrollment. These students are directly affected by decisions about artificial intelligence, attendance, discipline, mental health and academic opportunities. Yet the students most affected by educational inequities are often the least represented in conversations about how schools should address them.

So, I asked some of my multilingual learner friends and classmates why.

The students most affected by educational inequities are often the least represented in conversations about how schools should address them.

Their answers were difficult to hear. Some said they felt intimidated speaking publicly in English, a language they hadn’t completely mastered yet, and others worried their accents would make them sound “not smart enough” to represent other students. These were some of the smartest and most perceptive students I knew, students who cared deeply about their education and had strong opinions about issues widely discussed in education spaces. But many had quietly decided those spaces to express student voice were not meant for students like them.

That should concern California schools, especially as districts increasingly emphasize “student voice” and student-centered decision-making.

Part of the problem is that schools often define leadership through fluent, confident participation in English or activities that require English fluency. The students most likely to speak at meetings or serve on advisory councils are often students already comfortable navigating those environments, all while many multilingual students are still trying to translate the room.

This absence has real consequences. According to the California Department of Education, English learner students graduated at a rate of 77.9% in 2024, below statewide averages. Only 17.2% were considered prepared for college or careers after graduation. These gaps are often discussed in terms of data, funding and accountability metrics. But much less attention is paid to how rarely English learner students themselves are included in conversations about the policies intended to help them and the unique supports set up for them.

When one of the state’s largest student groups is missing from education policy conversations, schools lose access to the perspectives of the students most directly affected by those decisions. 

Right now, the California Department of Education is developing a statewide implementation plan for the English Learner Roadmap Policy, which is intended to improve outcomes for English learner students across the state. An advisory committee is helping shape that plan. It includes district leaders, nonprofit organizations and parents, but it doesn’t specifically include English learner students themselves.

I do not think that exclusion was intentional. But this unearths a broader issue in education: the way schools often talk about English learners instead of listening to them directly. 

California has already made important progress in supporting multilingual students. The English Learner Roadmap prioritizes engagement with multilingual families, and schools across California have expanded dual-language immersion programs at all levels of schooling. The number of students — especially English learners — earning the State Seal of Biliteracy has grown significantly in recent years, especially with the passing of the Biliteracy Advancement Act (AB 370). This reflects a greater recognition of multilingualism as an asset, not a deficit. Organizations like Multilingual Educators Transforming Achievement make multilingual wellness and equity an area of focus for specific California regions.

But this progress cannot be advanced without student representation. 

Recently, my school district approved my proposal for the creation of an English Learner Student Advisory Committee that will begin meeting during the 2026-27 school year, giving our district’s multilingual students an inclusive space with other students just like them to share their experiences and perspectives with district leadership. While I was discussing the idea, some students told me it was the first time they felt someone genuinely wanted to hear their opinions about school policies and programs. 

Districts should create formal, more accessible opportunities for English learner students to help shape school policies and programs and discuss their educational concerns with each other. Leadership recruitment materials should be translated, and board and committee meetings should include interpretation and language support.

California has spent years trying to improve outcomes for English learners. Listening to them more directly seems like a pretty good place to start.

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Keerthi Eraniyan is a student at California High School in San Ramon, student trustee for the Contra Costa County Board of Education, and a chair of student representation at the Association of California County Boards of Education. She recently spearheaded an English Learner Student Advisory Committee in her own district and is currently advocating for districts statewide to do the same.

The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author.  

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