Republican TN lawmakers to challenge landmark SCOTUS decision on education restrictions based on immigration status

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Republican Tennessee lawmakers said Tuesday they filed a bill to challenge a landmark United States Supreme Court decision that prevents states from restricting public education to children based on their immigration status.

The bill, HB 0793, was introduced by Representative William Lamberth (R-Portland) and Senator Bo Watson (R-Hixson). It would allow school districts and charter schools to refuse enrollment to students based on their immigration status. In a release, the lawmakers said the bill is tailored to challenge the 1982 Plyer v. Doe decision.

The decision says states could not constitutionally deny students a free public education based on their immigration status. The American Immigration Council said the decision came down to a 5-4 vote and found that “any resources which might be saved from excluding undocumented children from public schools were far outweighed by the harms imposed on society at large from denying them an education.”

The decision’s dissenting opinions acknowledged it’s senseless for an enlightened society to deprive any children—including [unauthorized immigrants]—of an elementary education,” partly because the long-term costs of excluding children from public schools would outweigh the costs of educating them.

Instead, dissenting opinions said the Supreme Court should defer to “the school district’s policy because the Constitution does not officially prevent discrimination against unlawfully present immigrants,” according to the immigration council.

Lamberth and Watson said in their release that the Migration Policy Institute estimated around 128,000 people were living in the state illegally. It also estimated around 10,000 were school-aged children attending Tennessee public schools, according to the Republican lawmakers.

Democratic lawmakers said the bill was cruel and unconstitutional, while also saying it was part of a pattern to “silence, censor and single out communities” that Republican lawmakers don’t value.

“This bill doesn’t even try to hide its prejudiced intent. Like school vouchers, which were designed in response to desegregation, this legislation cherry-picks which students deserve opportunity. We’ve seen this before, and we won’t let them drag us backward. Instead of dividing and punishing, we should be investing in all children, strengthening schools, and ensuring every child—regardless of background—is prepared to thrive,” said Senator London Lamar (D-Memphis).