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A bill giving public school districts the right to refuse enrollment to children without legal immigration status advanced in the Tennessee House Wednesday as a packed audience disrupted debate by standing and singing spiritual music in protest.
The panel of lawmakers swiftly cast their votes 11-7 in favor of the measure and exited the room as people rose to sing “Jesus Loves the Little Children,” ending a contentious hour-and-a-half hearing. Three Republicans joined the committee’s four Democrats in casting a “no” vote.
The bill (HB793/SB836) by Sen. Bo Watson of Hixson and House Majority Leader William Lamberth of Portland — both Republicans — would give public school districts the option of verifying student immigration status and charging tuition of students who cannot prove they are legal residents.
Alternatively, school districts could refuse to enroll children without proof of legal residency.
The bill has drawn large protests for weeks as it has wound through the legislative process. It was significantly amended Wednesday, stripping an initial requirement that all Tennessee public schools must verify the immigration status of every student and, instead, making checks optional for public school districts. The amended version of the bill would also exempt students refused admission by their local public school as a result of their immigration status from the state’s truancy laws.
Both of the bill’s sponsors have said they hope the measure could serve as a test case for the Supreme Court to revisit its 1982 Plyler v. Doe decision that established that all children in the United States have the right to a public education regardless of their immigration status.
“What we’re allowing (schools) to do is what Plyler prohibited them from doing,” Lamberth said Wednesday.
Citing increasing numbers of English language learners in Tennessee schools, Lamberth said the measure is necessary due to years of federal inaction in controlling the nation’s borders, leaving states to bear the burden of educating children whose parents “skipped the line.”
“The families that we are talking about, the parents we are talking about have absolutely gone around that process,” he said.
The bill drew fierce pushback from Democrats on the House Education panel.
“I think we all heard it here today, what this bill is really about,” said Rep. Sam McKenzie, a Knoxville Democrat, who called the legislation a “bully bill to try to undo the law of the land.”
“We have for over 40 years abided by this decision… because it’s the right thing,” he said. “We should not put our children — the least of us, those that cannot do for themselves — in the middle of an adult battle.”
A fiscal analysis of the bill noted it could jeopardize over $1 billion in federal education funding to the state. The bill will next be heard April 1 in the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee.
A separate bill that would have similarly required children without legal immigration status to pay public school tuition, and financial institutions to check immigration status of customers seeking to wire funds overseas, failed Wednesday in a House Banking and Consumer Affairs committee.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
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