NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WDEF)- You may remember a proposed bill last year in Tennessee that would have allowed schools to not enroll undocumented students.
It was pulled last year, but now is back on the table.
House Bill 793 would require school districts to provide that demographic information to the Tennessee Department of Education.
Previously, the bill, which had been introduced last year, would have allowed schools to reject undocumented students from enrolling in school altogether.
It was pulled last year, but now is back on the table.
The bill’s sponsor in the house, Representative William Lamberth, says that this data is necessary to guide future immigration policy decisions.
Republican Rep. Lamberth said that it would not require schools to publish, “Not names and addresses, not specifically any particular one individual, but the raw numbers from each LEA or public charter on how many children are we talking about. Is it three or is it 300,000? We don’t know right now.”
There was an amendment proposed at one point during debate that would’ve allowed individual school districts such as Hamilton County to opt out of acquiring this data however, that amendment was voted down.
Democratic Rep. Justin Jones, who proposed that amendment, decried the bill saying, “Using $55 million to turn our teachers into ICE agents. This is unnecessary. It’s cruel and utterly shameful that we’re even discussing this legislation today.”
Rep. Lamberth disputed that gathering the information would cost the state $55 million, saying the fiscal note was “inconsequential.”
Democratic Rep. Yusuf Hakeem of Chattanooga added, “Just looking at history I have to ask myself. Is it just a pre-text to get information that we want so that ICE can come over here and disrupt families who are tempting to live lawfully.”
The bill passed the House 70 to 25, with only three Republicans voting against it.
It will now head to the Senate where it is sponsored by Senator Bo Watson from Hamilton County.
Senator Watson said last year while advocating for the bill it is fiscally needed to protect Tennessee’s financial interests.
Both sponsors have stated that the bill would challenge a 1982 Supreme Court decision, Plyler v. Doe, that prevented schools from not enrolling undocumented students.
Sen. Watson said, “While immigration is a federal responsibility, and I quote again, states have a role to play, and I quote again from Plyler, to protect its fiscal interests.”
The Senate will begin their discussion of the amended bill on Thursday.
