(The Center Square) – A bill that would allow local school districts to charge tuition or refuse to enroll students who are not U.S. citizens was greenlighted by the Finance, Ways and Means Committee in the Tennessee Senate on Tuesday, with two Republicans voting against it.
Students attending public schools or charter schools would have to show proof of citizenship or that they are in the process of obtaining citizenship. They can also show they have legal immigration/visa status, according to Senate Bill 836, sponsored by Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson. It would be up to the school districts to decide if they could enroll or be charged tuition.
Funding for students considered English learners has increased steadily, according to Watson.
“While ELL incorporates both documented as well as undocumented students, it is difficult or impossible to tease out the difference between the two,” Watson said. “And so I use ELL funding as a correlation as to what may be happening with the undocumented community.”
ELL is an acronym for English language learner.
English learners account for 83,000 students in 144 out of the 150 school districts serving them, according to the Tennessee Department of Education website.
Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, said the bill could be “massively expensive” for school systems to implement.
“If we were so concerned about this problem, we can solve it tomorrow,” Yarbro said. “We could pass a $1,000 a day penalties for every employer that hires any undocumented worker. We could shut this down. But in doing so we would shut down every construction project you see outside, every construction project across the state, we’d shut down every meat packing plant, half the agriculture in the state, most of the hotels, we could do that, but that would at least be going after the people who are relying on and in many cases profiting from undocumented labor.”
The bill’s fiscal note said passage could jeopardize federal funding, but the extent and timing could not be determined.
The committee moved the legislation forward 7-4 to the full Senate with Republicans Sens. Ferrell Haile and Page Walley voting against the bill. Yarbro and Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis, also voted “no.” It now goes to the full Senate.
Several people started singing “Jesus Loves the Little Children” after the bill was passed. The committee recessed, and Tennessee State Troopers were called in to remove the protestors, who were holding signs in the committee room.
The House version, sponsored by Rep. William Lambert, R-Portland, is in the House Government Operations Committee.
