Tennessee’s governor signed a law expanding K-12 school vouchers for parents, excepting illegal migrants, who will not be eligible for the program.
The $447 million program is being termed as “universal” for parents in the state. However, Republican legislators made sure one sector will not be able to take advantage of the program, the Associated Press reported.
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The law orders the state’s Department of Education (DOE) to deny any application where a family “cannot establish the eligible student’s lawful presence in the United States.”
However, the bill also seems to lack any process for the DOE or schools to determine a family’s immigration status, so, it isn’t exactly clear how that status would be checked.
When he signed the bill, Tennessee’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee noted the new law would not “change anything about the state’s obligation as it currently stands to educate children,” but he also insisted that “for this scholarship, it’s only available to Tennessee citizens.”
The bill provides for 20,000 vouchers worth around $7,000 each and sets 10,000 aside for lower income and disabled students while the other half is open to any citizen. The vouchers will be available for the coming school year.
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The bill comes as several states have begun to look for ways to curtail the negative impact that the presence of children of illegal aliens has on a state’s education system.
In Oklahoma, for instance, State Schools Superintendent Ryan Walters is clashing with moderate Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt due to a proposal approved by the State Board of Education in January to have schools determine the immigration status of children as they register for school.
The governor is opposed to the plan and has said he will try to block it from being implemented, the AP reported.
Lawmakers in Texas and Indiana are also looking for ways to link immigration to schooling.
Like Oklahoma’s move to track students’ immigration status, lawmakers in Texas have introduced House Bill 1512, which would collect data on the immigration status of children registering for school. Meanwhile, in Indiana, House Bill 1394 has been introduced, which would actually block children of illegal migrants from enrolling in schools, Newsweek reported.
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