Hamilton County principals oppose bill to require immigration status checks on schoolchildren

Immigrants to Tennessee, and supporters, outside a Senate committee room on Wednesday after the Senate Education Committee advanced a bill that would prohibit public schools from enrolling children not in the U.S. legally — in violation of federal law. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Hamilton County public school principals on Wednesday announced their opposition to a bill that would deny the right to a Tennessee public school education to children who lack legal immigration status.

The Hamilton County Principals Association represents principals in 79 public schools in the Chattanooga-area district of Republican Sen. Bo Watson, who is cosponsor of Senate Bill 836.

The bill would require public charter and K-12 schools to verify student immigration status and allow them to charge tuition — or deny enrollment entirely — to children who cannot provide proof of their legal immigration status.

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“Our schools are not only institutions of learning — they are the heart of our neighborhoods, and they reflect our shared values of inclusion, dignity, and opportunity for all,” a news release from the principals’ association said.

“Denying this right not only contradicts our professional ethics and moral responsibilities, but also violates legal precedent grounded in the U.S. Constitution,” the release said, citing the 14th Amendment’s equal protection guarantees and Supreme Court precedent.

Watson and the bill’s cosponsor, House Leader William Lamberth, have said they hope the bill will be challenged in court and go onto serve as a vehicle to overturn the 1982 Supreme Court Plyler v. Doe decision that established all children have equal access to a public education, regardless of immigration status. The sponsors have also cited rising costs of English-language learning in public schools, but acknowledged there is currently no way to ascertain the immigration status of children receiving the instruction.

The two versions of the bill different in one key respect:  The House bill would make it optional to check student immigration status. The Senate version makes this mandatory in Tennessee’s more than 1700 public schools and all public charter schools. Both bills allow schools to charge tuition or bar enrollment.

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The bill earlier this week drew opposition from more than two dozen small business owners in Watson’s district represented by the Tennessee Small Business Alliance. The alliance called the measure “economically reckless.”

On Monday, more than 240 Tennessee faith leaders issued an open letter to state lawmakers opposing the measure, which they called “cruel” and antithetical to their religious values.

And on Tuesday, a group of Montgomery County residents filed a complaint against Republican Rep. Aron Maberry with the Tennessee Ethics Commission over his support for the measure, alleging his support for the measure violates the School Board Code of Ethics that spells out a duty to provide equal education opportunities to all students.

The bill has drawn majority, but not unanimous support, from Tennessee Republicans. On Monday, the bill narrowly passed a House Committee with Rep. Jeremy Faison, a Republican from Cosby, noting that “nobody in my district asked me to vote for that bill” before he cast a “no” vote.