Why did attending public schools sometimes create problems for immigrants?

The first problem facing new immigrants is the language barrier. Although there is no official language in the US, school has almost always been taught in English. Non-English schools have often been set up in communities where the first language is something other than English, but these are almost always private schools, and immigrant communities often can't sustain enough donations to open their own schools.

The second is often funding. New immigrants, especially unskilled ones, have usually moved to inner cities, where there is less tax revenue to support good public schools. This problem has been partially addressed by busing in students from the suburbs, which has been highly controversial, or by cities annexing suburbs to incorporate the wealthier areas into the same school system as depressed areas.

Third, many public schools used to require Bible education, which caused conflicts for non-Christian students. In addition, Protestants, who were generally in positions of power, preferred the King James Version of The Bible, which is not accepted by Catholics, who made up a large portion of immigrants between the 1840s and 1920s. Irish, Southern European, and Eastern European immigrants, predominantly Catholic, were widely discriminated against, and exclusive use of the King James edition was one method used by Protestants.