Image Credit: State Senator Page Walley / Facebook
***Note from The Tennessee Conservative – this article posted here for informational purposes only.
The Center Square [By Kim Jarrett] –
A group of educators says they oppose a bill that would require Tennessee schools to collect data on students’ immigration status.
House Bill 793 was amended from its Senate version, which would have allowed school districts to charge tuition to students not legally in the country.
The bill could have put the state’s $1.1 billion federal allocation from the Senate at risk if it were found to violate a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision establishing the right to education for all students, regardless of immigration status, according to the bill’s fiscal note.
House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, said the threat of losing the federal funding led to the amendment.
“There’s no way I want to bring a bill forward that would endanger $1.1 billion while we are trying to add additional funds in K-12 public education,” Lamberth said previously. “If you look at the new fiscal that is on the amendment, fiscal impact ‘is not significant.’”
The progressive group Tennessee Progress said more than 100 Hamilton County educators oppose the bill, originally sponsored by Hixson Republican Sen. Bo Watson. Hixson is in Hamilton County.
“Children should not carry the weight of adult policy decisions when they walk through our doors,” said Dr. Jill Levine, Principal at Chattanooga High Center for Creative Arts, and vice president of the Hamilton County Principal’s Association, in a statement provided by Tennessee Progress. “Our job is to protect them, teach them and support them, without conditions that could create fear or uncertainty in their daily school experience.”
The Knox County Board of Education included opposition to the bill as part of its legislative agenda for the 2026 session.
The House of Representatives passed the amended bill 70-25 on Monday, with three Republicans joining Democrats in opposing it. The bill is on Thursday’s Senate message calendar for consideration.
The Tennessee Lookout reports:
Even though the measure is watered down considerably from 2025’s bill, which would have allowed schools to deny education to children without full legal documentation, GOP Sen. Page Walley of Savannah told the Lookout this week he will not support SB0836/HB0793 in part because of the extra work it would put on school personnel.
“I maintain a position that I am very dubious of anything that puts additional immigration burden on our K-12 schools when they are marginally funded in many cases to do the work they are doing now,” Walley said.
The Senate passed the bill in 2025 on a 19-13 vote, with seven Republicans, including Walley, voting against it.
Republicans Todd Gardenhire, Ferrell Haile, Richard Briggs, Becky Massey, Mark Pody, Shane Reeves and Page Walley voted against the legislation, as reported by The Tennessee Conservative.
