3 Republicans Support Taxpayer Funding Of Illegal Immigrant Education in TN (Update 3/28/22)
***Update 3/28/22 – The Senate version of the bill (SB2597) has been assigned to the General Subcommittee of the Senate Education Committee but has not yet appeared on their calendar. The House version (HB1648), which failed and was moved to Special Calendar, has appeared on the K-12 Subcommittee calendar for 3/29/22.
Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
A bill that would stop taxpayers from being forced to fund education for illegal immigrants died in the House K-12 Subcommittee on Tuesday with three Republican legislators helping put an end to it.
House Bill 1648, sponsored by Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris-District 75), would give school systems the choice of whether they wanted to enroll students who are unlawfully in the United States. School districts who choose to do so would no longer receive state funding for those students, leaving them responsible for any costs associated with educating those children.
The bill was presented to the state K-12 Subcommittee on Tuesday. After Griffey’s introduction, the subcommittee went out of session to hear testimony from Charlie Bufalino, Assistant Commissioner of Policy and Legislative Affairs for the Tennessee Department of Education.
According to Bufalino, the department is opposed to the legislation because it would create a violation of federal law. The McKinney Vento Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prohibit schools from releasing information regarding a student’s immigration status and also place families under no obligation to provide that information to school systems at all. Disclosing that information so the state could withhold funding would not even be an option.
“Districts would be in conflict with federal law to even answer that question,” Bufalino stated. “For us, this is so legally fraught that it is going to put the state at a disadvantage – a very disadvantaged position to try and defend this and based on existing precedent, we have no confidence that it will lead to any sort of different decision. This is a settled matter of law.”
Representative John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge-District 33) made reference to the Anti-Commandeering decision by the Supreme Court, and Representative Mark White (R-Memphis-District 83) asked if the $5 billion in federal funding that stood to be lost would be jeopardized while the bill was in litigation or only after. Bufalino responded that the Department of Education would have to decide that, but they were concerned that the funds would be lost immediately if the bill was passed.
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When the subcommittee returned to session, Griffey argued that no funding would be lost until after all litigation was completed. He then asked for Tennessee legislators to be leaders in moving to help change federal laws by passing this bill, even though it was likely to be challenged immediately.
Representative John Clemmons (D-Nashville-District 55) argued, “There will be no guarantee this will even go through the system…this is settled law…it will be overturned and lose. The only thing that will come from this legislation is not only threatening $5 billion dollars worth of funds that we badly need for public education, Tennessee taxpayers will have lost even more money challenging a bill that we knew was unconstitutional when we passed it.”
According to Griffey, a 2017 study showed that Tennessee spends $792 million per year on illegal immigrants and their children.
Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka-District 64) said, “You never know if something is going to change until someone steps forward.”
“I still have to question, is it a bad thing that we educate children, no matter what their status is? You know, we gotta think about that also. The immigration policy is broken, too many coming in, and we as a state have to deal with it, but we’re still talking about the education of a child,” argued Representative Mark White (R-Memphis-District 83).
The bill was then moved to a vote. Republican representatives Ragan, Cepicky, and Glen Casada voted in favor of the bill. Democrats Love and Clemmons voted against the bill, along with Republicans White, Kirk Haston (R-Lobelville-District 72), and Chris Hurt (R-Halls-District 82).
The bill was moved to special calendar as Griffey said, “So goes the Alamo.”
If you would like to contact the members of the subcommittee that voted No or failed to speak in favor of the bill, you can find their contact information below.
House K-12 Subcommittee
Kirk Haston (chair) – rep.kirk.haston@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-0750
Michele Carringer – rep.michele.carringer@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-1721
Glen Casada – rep.glen.casada@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-4389
Scott Cepicky – rep.scott.cepicky@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-3005
Chris Hurt – rep.chris.hurt@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-2134
John D. Ragan – rep.john.ragan@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-4400
Mark White – rep.mark.white@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-4415
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
These 3 need to be thrown out of office. Illegal means LAW breaker just in case you 3 are too ignorant to know what it means or can’t read a dictionary?
Not funding education for Illegal immigrants only hurts Children, is Federal Violation and will create a loss of $5 Billion dollars in Federal funds for schools.
The best way is to control the flood of Illegal immigrants entering our country.
Or get Federal law changed.
I think some of you people don’t know what words in the English language mean. Illegal means breaking the law. In other words they are criminals. So our taxes should not support their education. I agree with Dave C. above. These Rinos need to be thrown out of office.
If these lawmakers want to educate this ILLEGALS then let them gather them up and take them all to Mexico or where ever they came from along with their families and they can educate them there.
What part of ILLEGAL don’t these three morons nut understand.
Excellent article and reporting. Thank you.
Here are 3 more that needs to hit the road come November. They need to be put in jai for helping a illegal (Law Breaker) alien.
Good grief. They CAN NOT pass a bill like this. It is against Federal law. If they did, it would definitely be appealed, and the courts would overturn it. The law needs to be changed.