The number of children from immigrant households enrolled in public schools has skyrocketed.
Immigrant household representation in America’s public school increased from seven percent in 1980 to 23 percent in 2015, according to a study released Monday from the Center for Immigration Studies. As recently as 1990, the number of immigrant children in public schools was 11 percent.
Children are interviewed by news media as elementary schoolchildren attend the Grand Park Earth Day celebration in downtown Los Angeles, California on April 22, 2016. Founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues, Earth Day is now globally celebrated. / AFP / FREDERIC J. BROWN (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)
The report by the group which advocates for reduced immigration analyzed data from the 2015 American Community Survey to reach its findings. CIS has previously estimated in 2015 that between 25 percent and 33 percent of public school students from immigrant households are the children of illegal immigrants. (RELATED: Census Data: Most Common Age For Whites Is 56, 9 For Hispanics)
The shift for a greater representation of the children of immigrants in public schools is especially significant when one looks at individual states. The number of children from immigrant households more than quadrupled since 1980 in 20 states and the District of Columbia. Only Montana has fewer immigrant household public school students since 1980. (RELATED: Lopez, Hernandez And Gonzalez Among Most Common American Surnames)
The study found that immigrant households are concentrated in a select number ofareas. In 700 census designated areas, half of the students come from immigrant households. (RELATED: New Estimate Shows It Costs Nearly $44 Billion To Educated Illegal Aliens Annually)
The amount of immigrant children in the school system has lead to a significant portion of students speaking another language than English at home. Just nine percent of students spoke a foreign language at home in 1980 — in 2015 it was 23 percent. A September study found that it costs nearly $60 billion annually to educate students lacking proficient English skills.
Whites are currently a minority among Americans under five, and a recent Daily Caller analysis found that the nation’s schools are becoming significantly more Hispanic.