Tennessee bill denying immigrant children right to an education dead for year

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)

A bill giving Tennessee public schools the right to refuse enrollment to children without legal immigration status — or the option to charge them tuition — is dead for the year after facing pushback over its fiscal impact, its constitutionality and what opponents said was its cruelty. 

The bill by Sen. Bo Watson of Hixson and House Majority Leader William Lamberth of Portland — both Republicans — was one of the most controversial heard during the 2025 Tennessee legislative session, which came to an end Tuesday. Debates over the legislation drew large and often vocal protests that occasionally shut down committee hearings. 

Immigrant rights advocates celebrated the bill’s demise — for now. Lamberth said Tuesday he won’t pull the education bill from consideration until the two-year session of the 114th General Assembly ends sine die, or when it’s finally adjourned, which would be in 2026.

Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, cited the force of public protests at the state Capitol and advocacy efforts by families, clergy, educators and others in forcing the bill to stall, but warned efforts targeting immigrants were likely to continue in Tennessee.

“We showed lawmakers that Tennessee won’t tolerate attacks on children — and they were forced to listen,” she said in a statement. “But let’s be clear: The bill is dead for the 2025 session, but not forever…So yes — we’re celebrating this win. And we’re staying ready for what comes next.”

Tennessee Democrats universally opposed the bill, but the measure divided GOP lawmakers. 

The bill’s backers cited rising English-language learner costs in public schools and a hardline position against providing public education to students who lack legal status. 

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The legislation’s Republican sponsors also said they hoped the legislation to draw an immediate legal that would serve as a vehicle to overturn a 1982 Supreme Court decision guaranteeing all children the right to a public school education, regardless of immigration status.

Some Republicans, however, expressed discomfort over putting children at the center of a larger national debate over immigration. Others voiced concern over whether the measure would jeopardize more than $1 billion in federal education funds, as a state fiscal analysis warned it could. 

And Watson, one of the bill’s chief sponsors, faced increasing criticism from business owners, faith leaders and public school officials inside his own district. The Hamilton County School Board, representing the largest school system in Watson’s home district, voted unanimously to condemn the legislation last week and a coalition of all 79 school principals in the district publicly decried the legislation.

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Republicans in the Tennessee Senate nevertheless approved the legislation earlier this month, but their version of the bill differed from the House version in that it mandated all public K-12 and charter schools verify the immigration status of all public school children. 

The House version of the bill made the immigration checks optional — a provision that Lamberth doubled down on as the session neared completion.

Both versions of the bill gave schools the option of charging tuition for children without legal status — or rejecting their enrollment entirely. 

On Monday, at Lamberth’s request, the state’s Fiscal Review Executive Director Bojan Savic sent a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon to determine whether the state could lose its federal funding tied to federal laws prohibiting discrimination. 

Lamberth had not gotten a reply by Tuesday evening and said he won’t recall the education bill from consideration until it can be reconsidered when the two-year session of the 114th General Assembly reconvenes in 2026.

The Legislature adjourned for the year Tuesday without the House taking up the bill.