Credit for all Images: Adelia Kirchner / The Tennessee Conservative
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
A bill giving public school districts the option to charge students tuition if they cannot prove they are in the country and state legally, passed in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday evening.
All day, the halls of Cordell Hull were lined with Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) members who wore shirts with the state of Tennessee on them that read “Our Home.”
Every single seat in Senate Education was filled and there were still large groups of people who were asked to watch the committee livestream from the hall or a separate hearing room.
Senate Bill 836 (SB0836), sponsored by Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson-District 11), “As introduced, authorizes LEAs and public charter schools to refuse to enroll students who are unlawfully present in the United States.”
The legislation was amended in committee to change the state’s public school enrollment policy by requiring all public schools, including public charter schools, to verify a student’s legal status before enrollment.
SB0836 as amended, would require students to provide documentation proving they are either U.S. citizens or in the process of obtaining citizenship or legal immigration status.
If a student cannot provide that documentation, local school districts and public charter schools would have the option, but would not be required, to charge tuition for a student’s enrollment.
Tuition would be no less than the TISA-based funding amount for the respective year and would not be more than the total average per pupil funding amount for that specific LEA.
Tuition would also have to be paid in full.
In the case that a school chooses to charge a student tuition and the student does not pay, the school would then have the option to deny the student enrollment.
An appeal process would be made available for students who feel like they have a lawful presence here. They would appeal to the state Department of Education who would then determine whether that student is here lawfully or not.
Sen. Watson acknowledged that the bill carried a “great deal of sensitivity” for some.
“I understand why people choose not to discuss this sensitive issue of how we deal with the undocumented students that are in many of our schools,” he said, “but it is a fiscal reality that we need to address and this bill seeks to do that.”
“This is a fiscal issue, despite what people might think or say and I am willing to stand here and take the slings and arrows, the criticisms, and the name calling because I have a responsibility to the financial oversight of our state and her subdivisions,” said Sen. Watson.
The bill sponsor explained that he was guided in this bill by some statements made in prior documents, including the dissenting opinion from Plyler v. Doe (1982), a case that set the precedent for requiring every state and local public school district to provide funding for any student that seeks a public education.
“For many who don’t know, Plyler was a 5-4 decision,” Sen. Watson said. “The four dissenting justices, one of which included Sandra Day O’Connor, made some statements that are almost prophetic in nature.”
After hearing three different testimonies in opposition of SB0836, the committee voted on the legislation.
Republican Senators Rusty Crowe, Joey Hensley, Adam Lowe, Bill Powers, and Dawn White voted in favor of the legislation.
Democrat Senator Raumesh Akbari alongside Republican Senators Ferrell Haile, Mark Pody, and Kerry Roberts voted against the legislation.
The Tennessee Conservative reached out to Senators Pody, Roberts and Haile for a statement on their decision to vote “No” on this legislation.
Senator Pody said that the strategy behind the bill is something that he wants to see keep going. But he felt the bill targeted children and the focus should instead be on adults illegal aliens.
“I have a hard time in my heart when it’s about the kids,” Pody told the Tennessee Conservative.
To paraphrase, Pody stated that the children have no choice in the fact they are here. It is the adults who made the decision to be here illegally and they should be the ones we are going after.
At time of publication, TTC has not heard back from Senator Roberts or Senator Haile.
Ironically enough, SB0836 passed through committee by the same vote as the very court case that is typically cited to contradict legislation like this, 5-4.
As soon as SB0836 passed in committee, several individuals in the audience stood up and began to shout at committee members.
“Crap! That’s crap. These are our kids!” yelled one man, prompting an outroar from the crowd.
It was announced that the committee would take a five-minute recess.
Once those outside of the committee room knew that the legislation had passed, crowds in the hallway of the Cordell Hull Building began to shout in protest.
The hearing room was eventually cleared out by the Sergeants at Arms, and even those who were not participating in the protest were asked to temporarily leave the room.
TIRRC protestors and routine capitol protestors alike flooded the halls making it almost impossible to get anywhere.
A small group of homeschool parents and their children had been present in committee to testify on and support an entirely separate bill, the FREE Act, which was supposed to be heard later on in the evening.
One homeschool father and his two very young children stood outside the hearing room waiting to be let back in.
A woman who is a routine agitator at these events, instead of speaking to the adult standing right there, purposefully got in the faces of the two elementary-aged children and spat out something along the lines of “Education is for all children, not just white children!”
When confronted by one of the homeschool moms about how speaking to children that way was unacceptable, the woman was unapologetic and continued to antagonize anyone who she perceived did not align with her perspective.
The young children were frightened by the interaction and one of them immediately started to bawl as their dad, the rest of the homeschoolers, and a group called Recess Moms, ushered them into a corner and formed a barrier between them and the protests.
