Schools director speaks on undocumented students bill

Yahoo

12-04-2025

JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (WJHL) — A bill that took another step forward in Tennessee's legislature Thursday has school systems across the state preparing for something they might prefer to avoid.
Bill that could bar undocumented students passes TN Senate 19-13 with 7 GOP 'no' votes
The full state Senate — with seven out of 27 Republicans joining all six Democrats in opposition — passed Hixson Republican Bo Watson's version of a measure that would let school systems charge tuition to undocumented students or deny them admission. The vote was 19-13 for a bill that has drawn opposition from groups ranging from education organizations to clergy, civil rights and immigrant rights advocates.
'All of those organizations representing the various groups (that) superintendents, Tennessee school board members are aligned with, they're opposed to the bill,' Washington County Director of Schools Jerry Boyd told News Channel 11 Friday.
Boyd says his board members have discussed the bill and aren't interested in the option of charging tuition or excluding students. Watson has said he introduced it so school systems could recoup what he called exponentially rising costs of providing extra help for English language learners.
'Our main mission is to serve children, and so we don't say we serve some children,' Boyd said. 'We serve all children that are in our community.'
The bill's Senate version also requires schools to collect citizenship or legal immigrant documents from each enrolling child – regardless of whether the system wants to charge tuition to those here illegally.
'In our normal enrollment process, it would be another layer, and it's certainly information that we have not required in the past,' Boyd said.
One reason is because federal law doesn't allow any student to be denied enrollment. That law springs from a 1982 Supreme Court decision, Plyler v Doe, that prohibited the denial of public education to any child in the U.S. regardless of legal resident status.
Boyd thinks a required list could send some families into the shadows even when it comes to the traditionally safe space of schools.
'Reasonably so if they have a fear of being removed from the community and from the nation,' Boyd said.
He said he's confident all parents, including those who are undocumented, are 'supportive of the education process in Washington County.
'If there was a tuition, if they could pay it, knowing their commitment to education of their children, they would probably try to find a way,' Boyd said. 'But there will be some because of fear and because of just finances, they would make decisions to not enroll or even attempt to enroll their children in schools.'
Tennessee's ACLU policy director Bryan Davidson told News Channel 11 the element mandating documentation was troubling.
'It kind of begs the question, if they're collecting the information, then, you know, what are they planning to do with that information, which we think is incredibly concerning,' Davidson said Thursday.
Davidson said the House version doesn't have that mandate. And he said after Thursday's vote, passage into law isn't guaranteed despite a Republican-dominated legislature.
'I do think that that the vocal Republican opposition today on the floor sends an important signal that this is not pure politics. This is an issue of basic human decency,' he said.
Boyd doesn't know how many undocumented kids attend Washington County schools. The Pew Research Center estimates Tennessee is home to about 140,000 undocumented people, and just under 6 percent of its students live with an unauthorized parent. The 30-year veteran educator says, in his opinion, the number's not the issue.
'While they're here, we need to serve children, and to put a law in place that would prevent that opportunity, I certainly, as an educator, as a citizen of Tennessee, a citizen of the United States of America, as a father — I don't agree with it.'
Davidson thinks the bill could still face serious headwinds.
'The margins in the votes in the House have been just as close, if not closer than some of the Senate committee votes in the last couple of weeks,' Davidson said.
'I think all eyes are on the House Finance subcommittees and full committee meetings next week, and, you know, we'll see what happens.'
News Channel 11 requested interviews from a half dozen area House members Friday. One was unavailable due to illness, and the remainder declined to respond.
The bill is in the House Finance, Ways, and Means subcommittee at 9 a.m. Central time Monday. That 29-member committee includes five Northeast Tennessee members: Chair Gary Hicks (R-Rogersville), Tim Hicks (R-Gray), John Crawford (R-Kingsport), David Hawk (R-Greeneville) and Bud Hulsey (R-Kingsport).
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