Overview

• Comptroller Brad Lander’s audit reports that 48% of a 301-student sample did not receive required ENL or bilingual courses or mandated instructional minutes in 2022–23.
• Nearly 41% of sampled students had at least one teacher without proper ENL or bilingual certification, highlighting persistent staffing and credential gaps.
• Auditors say 146 of 150 bilingual program waiver requests last school year were improper, affecting about 9,500 students, with many concentrated in South Brooklyn districts 20, 21, and 22.
• The report cites lapses in documenting family notification about rights and program options and notes the city does not monitor whether certified ENL teachers complete required ongoing training.
• The DOE says it has expanded hiring and bilingual offerings, operates 566 programs in multiple languages, and disputes parts of the findings, even as it agrees to most of the audit’s proposed fixes.