Students hold signs declaring their support for immigrants at Lincoln High's Dream Center.
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Courtesy of LAUSD
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Topline:
In a move driven by student activism, the Los Angeles Unified board earmarked $5 million in its $18.8 billion budget to help fund support centers for undocumented students in district schools.
Why now: This decision comes months after students called on the district to implement these centers across all LAUSD campuses — at walkouts and at board meetings — and follows reporting by Boyle Heights Beat on how students helped shape these demands through organizing efforts on their campuses.
What are Dream Centers? Commonly known as Dream Centers, these spaces are now being referred to as Student and Family Centers. Students say these centers are about visibility, connection and safety, and are necessary spaces after President Donald Trump rolled back policies that protected sensitive places like schools and churches from immigration enforcement.
Read on... for responses from students and teachers.
This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on June 26, 2025.
In a move driven by student activism, the Los Angeles Unified board earmarked $5 million in its $18.8 billion budget to help fund support centers for undocumented students in district schools.
This decision comes months after students called on the district to implement these centers across all LAUSD campuses — at walkouts and at board meetings — and follows reporting by Boyle Heights Beat on how students helped shape these demands through organizing efforts on their campuses.
Commonly known as Dream Centers, these spaces are now being referred to as Student and Family Centers. Students say these centers are about visibility, connection and safety, and are necessary spaces after President Donald Trump rolled back policies that protected sensitive places like schools and churches from immigration enforcement.
During walkouts in February, students called for transparency on protocols if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents enter their schools, in addition to the establishment of Dream Centers.
Now, the district’s $5 million addition comes at a time of heightened anxiety as masked and armed immigration agents continue to conduct raids across the L.A. region.
“I think anyone of us who turns on our TV and reads the paper and considers the stress, the trauma, the abuse, the persecution, that we see in our community, recognizes that we need to be that alleviating element in our school district,” said LAUSD Supt. Alberto Carvalho at Tuesday’s board meeting.
Carvalho said the board approved the $5 million with “a clear intent” to make way for an additional $3 million toward these centers.
“The need is there,” Carvalho said.
Roybal Learning Center teacher Jon Paul Arciniega told the board, during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting, that the district “must guarantee sanctuary protections by fully funding Dream Centers by $10 million.”
Students gather at the Dream Center at Lincoln High School.
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Art Licon
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LAUSD
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“By providing vital services to undocumented families through Dream Centers, we can stand up to the authoritarianism of the Trump administration and save families from kidnapping and state-sanctioned violence,” Arciniega said.
“It has been the pleasure of my lifetime to watch my students and hundreds of others throughout different schools organize walkouts and create a list of concrete demands,” he added. “They are leading the way with vision and vigor, and the 2025-26 budget and every budget afterwards must heed to their demands.”
Among district campuses that have Dream Centers are Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Woodrow Wilson, and Santee high schools. These centers have relied on nonprofit funding and donations from school staff and community organizations to provide snacks, furniture, and other necessities.
Common topics of discussion at the centers include “Know Your Rights” sessions and updates on new immigration laws. The centers provide mental health services and offer food, clothing and other needs. They also serve as hubs to a range of student organizations like the Black Student Union, Urban Visionaries and students with the Black Student Achievement Plan.
At Abraham Lincoln High School, the Paula Crisostomo Dream Center – which is believed to be the first such center in the nation to be housed on a high school campus – has pushed the topic of immigration “front and center,” Art Licon, the sponsor of the student-led center, previously told Boyle Heights Beat.
“In our campus, immigration and the immigrant community is not on the periphery,” Licon said.
LAUSD board member Rocío Rivas, who represents parts of Central and East L.A., has expressed her support for Dream Centers.
“I want to offer my deepest thanks to the students, the advocates, school staff, parents, community-based organizations, every single person who raised their voices and made their needs impossible to ignore,” Rivas said on Tuesday. “Your advocacy, especially in these incredibly trying times, is what made this possible and it will continue to guide us forward.”
