The TEA defines emergent bilingual as “a student who is in the process of acquiring English and has another language as the primary language.” According to TEA, 24% of students enrolled in Texas public schools are emergent bilingual students.
The breakdown
Community Impact analyzed data from the TEA to learn how many emergent bilingual students were in 28 school districts across the Greater Houston area during the 2024-2025 school year. Out of 28 districts, only eight saw an increase in emergent bilingual districts.
According to TEA data, the districts with the largest decrease of bilingual students include:
- Fort Bend ISD, which lost 1,286 students
- Houston ISD, which lost 2,574 students
- Spring ISD, which lost 916 students
- Cy-Fair ISD with an increase of 406 students
- Lamar ISD with an increase of 486 students
- Willis ISD with an increase of 155 students
According to TEA data, the school districts with the highest percentages for emergent bilingual as a portion of total enrollment for 2024-25 were:
- Aldine ISD with 48% of students
- Channelview ISD with 43% of students
- Galena Park ISD with 41% of students
- Houston ISD with 39% of students