How much do illegals cost the US school system each year
Executive summary
Estimates of the annual cost of educating undocumented (commonly termed “illegal”) students in U.S. K–12 public schools vary dramatically because of differing definitions, data gaps, and political agendas; conservative estimates cluster in the low billions while some academic and policy analyses produce figures in the tens of billions (for example, roughly $2 billion up to $68 billion) [1] [2]. Nonpartisan analysts warn the number is inherently uncertain—Congressional Budget Office work highlights both modest direct budgetary effects and larger “potential” effects once crowding and service needs are counted [3] [4].
1. The methodological problem: who’s being counted and what costs are included
Any headline number depends on three choices: how many undocumented school‑age children are actually enrolled, whether to count only marginal costs (extra teachers, ESOL specialists) or average per‑pupil spending, and whether to net out taxes that immigrant families pay; GAO and academic workshops have long cautioned that capital costs, local capacity, timing of arrivals, and marginal versus average cost assumptions produce very different totals [4].
2. The low‑end and politically useful figures
Some conservative organizations and commentators present relatively small totals—The Conversation summarizing Heritage Foundation claims cites roughly $2 billion per year attributed to undocumented students—figures that are often used to argue for shifting costs to the federal government or restricting access to schools [1]. Official Republican budget materials and advocacy pieces sometimes frame the cost question to support enforcement or funding offsets, an implicit agenda that affects what is counted and emphasized [5] [6].
3. The mid‑range: CBO’s accounting of surge effects
The Congressional Budget Office, aiming for nonpartisan rigor, estimated in a 2023 study that state and local governments faced about $28.6 billion in potential increased spending for goods and services associated with the immigration surge—including the potentially higher costs of increased enrollment in elementary and secondary schools—while directly attributing roughly $10.1 billion in taxes paid by immigrants to state and local coffers that offset some costs [3]. CBO explicitly distinguishes direct budgetary spending from “potential” or nonbudgetary effects such as crowding, which explains why its number sits between the political extremes [3].
4. High‑end estimates and their assumptions
Longer, more expansive estimates place the price tag much higher: a National Affairs analysis estimated conservatively about $68 billion annually to educate children of unauthorized immigrants [2], and advocacy groups focused on students with limited English proficiency have produced figures like $78 billion when counting all LEP students nationwide—numbers that fold in broad programmatic costs and often include native‑born children in immigrant families [7] [2]. Those higher figures rely on broader definitions of who counts as an immigration‑related cost and often include services beyond classroom instruction.
5. Offsets and contributions that complicate “cost” narratives
Analysts pointing to net fiscal effects note undocumented immigrants also contribute to school funding through payroll and property taxes and broader economic activity; for example, one analysis estimated undocumented immigrants’ federal contributions at about $59.4 billion in 2022 and property tax contributions of roughly $10.4 billion—revenues that support education at the state and local level [8]. That claim challenges portrayals of undocumented students as pure fiscal drains and is central to arguments that benefits, not just costs, should be part of the accounting [8].
6. Bottom line: a defensible range and why certainty is impossible
Given the divergent methodologies and motives, a defensible statement is that annual K–12 costs attributed to educating undocumented students plausibly fall somewhere between a few billion dollars and several dozen billion dollars per year; nonpartisan CBO work puts potential increased state and local costs near $28.6 billion while other credible estimates range from about $2 billion to $68 billion depending on assumptions [3] [1] [2]. Because Supreme Court precedent (Plyler v. Doe) guarantees education regardless of immigration status and because local funding mixes with federal and state streams, no single figure can capture all fiscal, social, and long‑term economic effects—policy debates should be explicit about definitions and tradeoffs rather than rely on single, decontextualized headline numbers [9] [4].