Image Credit: TN General Assembly
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
A gutted bill that was originally intended to allow school districts to deny enrolling the children of illegal aliens is on its way to the House floor for a final vote after a 15 to 9 vote in the House Finance, Ways & Means Committee which included two Republicans voting against it.
House Bill 0793 as amended will collect data on this cohort of students to be reported to the state’s Department of Education, to determine how many students in Tennessee public schools are being educated at taxpayer expense.
According to the bill’s sponsor, a determining factor for so severely amending the legislation was reducing the accompanying fiscal note down to “not significant.”
Initially crafted with the intent to challenge the 1982 Supreme Court ruling Plyler v Doe which mandates that all children are entitled to a free education regardless of their immigration status, the bill will now only require schools to report the number of illegal alien students with no identifying information included in the report.
The companion Senate Bill, has already passed on the Senate floor.
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About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
2 Responses
Gutting/killing good bills are what they’re good for.
The original bill did not deny an education to an illegal. It required the student pay tuition which is only fair. I also believe we should require that all students enrolled in a TN public school must be able to speak English. We do these children no favors by allowing them to speak in their native language. Children learn fast. I have a personal friend that came to America (back when you did have to speak English to get into an American public school) from Italy when he was 12. He sat out for 1 year and went on to become a very successful businessman