by David Safier
The U.S. Departments of Education and of Justice have made it official. School districts may not use enrollment practices "that may chill or discourage the participation, or lead to the exclusion, of students based on their or their parents’ or guardians’ actual or perceived citizenship or immigration status."
In other words, school districts can't require proof of citizenship from children or their parents.
The Supreme Court case, Plyler v. Doe (1982), is cited:
Denying “innocent children” access to a public education, the Court explained, “imposes a lifetime hardship on a discrete class of children not accountable for their disabling status. . . . By denying these children a basic education, we deny them the ability to live within the structure of our civic institutions, and foreclose any realistic possibility that they will contribute in even the smallest way to the progress of our Nation.”
Grijalva put out a Media Release applauding the clarification from the feds. I'm sure many of our state Republicans aren't quite so happy with the ruling.
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I think this is unbelieveable. How can we allow all those who are here illegaly to use our system and our tax dollars. This is what has given our country a bad name. We always give in…
It also says this:
It is difficult to understand precisely what the State hopes to achieve by promoting the creation and perpetuation of a subclass of illiterates within our boundaries, surely adding to the problems and costs of unemployment, welfare, and crime. It is thus clear that whatever savings might be achieved by denying these children an education, they are wholly insubstantial in light of the costs involved to these children, the State, and the Nation.