The Tennessee Senate Hearing Room. (Photo by Sky Arnold)¶
The House Finance, Ways, and Means Committee advanced a controversial bill on Tuesday afternoon that would require the state to collect data on immigrant students.¶
House Bill 0793, sponsored by Representative William Lamberth, R-Portland, has gone through several iterations, including a version last year that would have allowed school districts the ability to charge tuition to the families of immigrant students without proper documentation. That version stalled amid concerns that it would jeopardize $1.1 billion in federal education funding.¶
Lamberth amended the legislation this year to only allow the state to collect data on how many students are U.S. citizens and how many hold other immigration statuses in a wide range of circumstances. He adamantly expressed that it would not involve the collection of student names, addresses or other personally identifiable information during a House subcommittee meeting last week.¶
Lamberth told members of the Finance, Ways, and Means Committee that immigration determinations could be made utilizing the current documents required from all students.¶
“If it is a student that is here illegally, we should know that to be able to make decisions so that all of you and all of us can make decisions on how much is being allocated towards those students currently right now in the state of Tennessee,” said Lamberth. “You can ask anybody in this state, and right now they can not tell you how illegal immigrants are enrolled in public schools at this moment.”¶
What’s The Cost? (Fiscally And Educationally)¶
Data via the Immigration Research Initiative (IRI).¶
Lamberth told committee members that his legislation has a “not significant” financial cost but one opponent who spoke out against the bill cited the Immigration Research Initiative (IRI) to push back on that statement. The IRI estimates that additional school personnel would be needed to undertake the initiative, which would cost $55 million in its first year alone.¶
“IRI estimates that verifying the status of all students in the state would entail hiring, training and equipping 934 school personnel,” An IRI release reads. “For context, that is roughly half the number of school nurses in Tennessee public schools.”¶
The IRI also aired its disapproval of what it calls a “chilling effect that would result in many immigrant children missing out on a basic education.”¶
Other Opposition Testimony¶
Laurie Brown, CEO of Intrepid College Prep in Antioch, attended the meeting and spoke out against the bill, primarily because she believed it would require schools to take on work that pulls them away from their core mission of educating students.¶
“Our goal is to educate students through teaching them to read, write, and do arithmetic, but it's also about teaching students to work together, build relationships, and navigate complex issue,” Brown said.¶
The bill will now head to the House floor.¶
The Senate passed its version of the bill last April. That version aligned with Lamberth's original bill, and the differences will need to be worked out in a conference committee if the current version passes the House.¶
