The Oklahoma State Board of Education is set to vote Tuesday on a proposal that would require parents to report their immigration or citizenship status when enrolling their children in school.
The school board says the goal of the proposal is to better understand its students’ needs. However, education and immigration advocates say they believe the proposal will make immigrant families afraid and unwelcome at public schools that are legally required to provide every child education.
“All children have a constitutional right to equal access to education regardless of their citizenship or immigration status,” the National Immigration Law Center said in a statement objecting to the rule change. “Requiring school districts to collect information about immigration status illegally chills access to this opportunity, interfering with their ability to focus on their core mission: to educate children and give all students the ability to grow, thrive, and participate fully in our democracy.”
The Board of Education is expected to vote on this and other rule proposals Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. CT. If approved, the rules proceed to the legislature and governor for review, per state administrative rules.
The board’s proposal comes as President Donald Trump and Republican leaders have pledged to crack down on undocumented immigrants and carry out a mass deportation plan. Last week, Trump signed a series of executive orders expanding the power of immigration authorities and issued a directive allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to arrest people in schools, a departure from long-standing policy.
Oklahoma, too, has been at the forefront of a Republican push to transform public education under Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters. Last year, the Board of Education required all schools to incorporate the Bible and Ten Commandments in their curriculums. And just days ago, the US Supreme Court agreed to decide whether states may reject religious charter schools from receiving public funding in a case out of Oklahoma.
Immigration has been a particular focus for Walters. Earlier this month, Walters announced a $474 million lawsuit against leaders of the Department of Homeland Security and ICE seeking “compensation for the severe financial and operational strain that their failed border policies have placed on Oklahoma’s public schools.”
Oklahoma plans to comply with the Trump administration’s efforts to allow ICE agents into schools, Walters said last week. He issued a statement Monday explaining that position further.
“Schools are crippled by the flood of illegal immigrants and the Biden/Harris open border policy. Oklahomans and the country elected President Trump and we will do everything possible to help put Oklahoma students first,” he said.
A closer look at the proposal and the law
The proposed rule change – technically 210:10-1-5 (d) – would require the parent or legal guardian of a child to provide proof of US citizenship or legal immigration status at the time of enrollment.
Each school district shall record the number of students whose parent or guardian cannot provide proof, and then submit “only information of the total number of students,” without any personally identifiable information, to the state Department of Education, according to the proposed rule.
The goal of the rule change, according to the text, is “to assess statewide and local educational needs, including without limitation, student needs, language and cultural barriers, current and future needs for English as a Second Language (‘ESL’) teachers, tutors and tutoring programs, current and future transportation needs, programs, and anticipated future funding needs.”
The rule’s text goes on to say, “Nothing in this Section shall be construed to prohibit, or inhibit, any child from receiving the education they are entitled to receive,” and says no data shall be used to record an individual student’s citizenship or immigration status.
In a statement last week, Walters praised this proposed rule change and others, saying they will protect Oklahoma students. The other rule changes would require teachers to pass a writing test based on the US naturalization test and require schools to fly the American flag.
“Not only do our rules serve Oklahoma taxpayers, but they will help ensure resources are directed to the students who need them most,” he said. “Because of the Biden administration’s yearslong failure at the border, hardworking Oklahomans deserve to know how much they are spending to comply with the federal government’s unfunded mandates.”
Immigration and education advocates have questioned its legality and argued the rule will discourage students from attending school. Parents and some advocates attended a recent Department of Education public hearing to air their concerns, according to CNN affiliate KJRH.
“Education should never be weaponized as a tool for exclusion or fear,” Tasneem Al-Michael, a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and a representative of the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice, said at the hearing.
“Policies like this risk politicizing the classroom and they create an environment where families feel unwelcome enrolling their children in school.”
Current US law on immigrants in schools stems from the 1982 Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe, which held in a 5-4 vote that states cannot constitutionally deny students a free public education because of their immigration status, citing the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
“By denying these children a basic education,” the ruling said, “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.”
More recently, in 2011, the Alabama legislature passed a sweeping law aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration, including a measure similar to Oklahoma’s that required public school administrators to collect information on the immigration status of students. The Justice Department and several civil rights groups challenged parts of the law, a federal judge agreed to block some of its most controversial parts, and Alabama ultimately agreed to a settlement, according to the American Immigration Council.
With changes potentially coming for Oklahoma’s immigrant students, the state’s largest school districts have sought to reassure students and families. Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent Jamie C. Polk issued a statement last month saying it has no plans to collect immigration status.
“Federal law guarantees every child’s right to public education regardless of immigration status, and our District will continue operating in accordance with these established federal protections. OKCPS does not, nor do we have plans to, collect the immigration status of our students or their families,” Polk said.
