The Oklahoma State Board of Education on Tuesday approved a proposal that would require families to report their immigration or citizenship status when enrolling their children in school.
If adopted as is, the rule would mandate that parents or legal guardians provide proof of their U.S. citizenship or legal immigration status at the time of their children’s enrollment. Children wouldn’t be barred from attending school if their parents or guardians lack legal status, but school districts would keep a tally and report that number to the state education department.
The rule’s stated purpose is to better meet the needs of students and teachers, particularly those in English as a second language (ESL) programs.
“Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit or inhibit any child from receiving the education they are entitled to receive,” it says, noting that no personally identifiable information would be recorded.
“Our rule ... is simply to account for how many students of illegal immigrants are in our schools,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said during Tuesday’s board meeting.
“At a minimum, the state of Oklahoma spent $474 million to educate the children of illegal immigrants under the Biden administration,” he told board members, noting that resources and personnel had to be reallocated midway through the school year to meet the needs of those students. “We want to make sure that all that information is gathered so that we can make decisions on where resources go [and] where personnel go.”
When asked whether the state would share this data with federal authorities, Walters said his department would cooperate upon request.
“If [federal authorities] come in and ask us for certain information, we will happily provide that, but that is a question for them,” he said.
On Monday, Walters publicly endorsed the new directive allowing ICE to make arrests in schools, saying that Oklahoma’s school system has been “crippled by the flood of illegal immigrants” in recent years.
“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,” Polk said, adding that Oklahoma City Public Schools “does not, nor do we have plans to, collect the immigration status of our students or their families.”
Current national policy on illegal immigrants’ access to U.S. public education stems from the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in a case known as Plyler v. Doe. In 1982, a divided high court ruled 5–4 that it’s a violation of the 14th Amendment for states to deny students a free public education based on their immigration status.
