Latest news with #SenateBill836
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
I was an undocumented student. I'm going to be a doctor. Keep education a right.
On my way into the hospital recently, a headline caught my eye. It stated that the Tennessee Senate passed a bill that would end the right to education as we know it. Threatening to challenge a SCOTUS decision from 1982 that guaranteed education to all children, Senate Bill 836 and its accompanying House Bill 793 would ultimately allow schools to limit educational access to students with an undocumented status. Locking my phone away and walking in to see my patients, it struck me that under this bill I would not be here today. My family and I immigrated to Middle Tennessee when I was only 3 years old. Drawn to the state for its natural beauty and warm welcoming community, we decided to make Tennessee our home. Though we were new to the state, Murfreesboro embraced us and made this new land feel like home. It is here where I learned to read and count and work hard. It is here where I learned to believe that my life meant something. It is here where I learned about the American Dream. Though I was undocumented throughout the entirety of my youth, my teachers never saw a legal status – they saw a boy who was excited to learn. Although my path after grade school may have been uncertain, they instilled a belief within me that I could forge a way forward. Together, from kindergarten to high school, we did just that. With their dedication and my perseverance, a path forward began forming before us. Eventually, I gained my citizenship and am now just weeks away from becoming Dr. Gudiño-Rosales, the first physician in my family. Opinion: Tennessee lawmakers back immigration bill that creates a permanent underclass However, had HB793/SB836 existed when I was a child, we would not have forged that path. I would not have made it through grade school, and I would not be wearing a white coat today. Sponsors of these bills cite various reasons as justification for this legislation including limited financial resources. Despite their claims, there is no evidence that denying undocumented students access to education would save the state any money. Instead, as over 20 Tennessee businesses have expressed, barring these students from public schools could cost Tennessee millions in federal funding. Furthermore, restricting access to education threatens to jeopardize recent gains in student outcomes. These improvements are proof that investing in every child in Tennessee is strategic for the continued excellence of the state. With meaningful support, our students will continue excelling as they become tomorrow's workforce of nurses, educators, and, yes, even doctors. Opinion: Trump's deportations emboldened GOP. But they're going after kids, not criminals That is why as lawmakers continue debating HB793, I urge them to consider the nascent potential of all students but especially the roughly 10,000 undocumented students in Tennessee. While there is agreement in that a consensus must be reached regarding immigration, this bill unfairly targets the most vulnerable individuals affected by this issue. Undocumented students did not choose their immigration status and should not be forced to bear the brunt of the consequences. It has been famously coined that education is the great equalizer in our country, and it is a phrase that has undoubtedly held true for me. However, that truth exists only because the Tennessee education system believed in me. Because of their faith, I now get to take care of people when they are most vulnerable and give back to communities in ways they did for me. Therefore, I ask Tennessee lawmakers to reflect on what we stand for as the Volunteer State and urge them to vote no on HB793. I implore them to leave children out of this immigration issue. Do not close the doors of educational opportunity for students; keep them open and preserve Tennessee's legacy of strength and hope. Santiago Gudiño-Rosales, a proud graduate of Central Magnet School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is a senior medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee undocumented students can achieve great success | Opinion
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tennessee bill to document citizenship status of students advances in narrow vote
A controversial bill that would require Tennessee public schools to verify citizenship status of students and potentially block them from attendance cleared its first General Assembly hurdle by a narrow vote on Wednesday. Three Republicans joined the Senate Education Committee's single Democrat to vote against Senate Bill 836, though five Republicans voted for it and cleared its passage out of committee. Loud protests erupted as soon as the bill passed from a large crowd gathered in opposition to the bill. Several Republican senators immediately exited the committee room, temporarily shutting down the committee meeting. "That's trash. These are our kids, these are our kids," one man shouted before chanting "shame" toward the departing senators. Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, originally filed legislation last month that would allow allow public schools to deny enrollment to children without U.S. citizenship or legal residency. On Wednesday, Watson significantly amended the bill. Under a new amendment, local public schools would be required to collect evidence of citizenship or legal residency status. If a school found a potential student who unlawfully resides in Tennessee, the school could charge those students tuition to attend or block them from attending if they don't pay. "This is not about denying an education to those students," Watson said. But the bill is a direct attempt to challenge a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that enshrined the requirement for American public schools to provide equal access to all children. The legislation would almost certainly be legally challenged if passed into law, and its GOP sponsors have said that is their explicit intent to potentially overturn the Supreme Court precedent. Watson argued the bill is necessary to help ease the financial burden of "English as a second language" instruction. Watson said the costs for ESL instruction have risen significantly in recent years, though he acknowledged that doesn't necessarily mean ESL students are not lawful residents. "Under the current system, we do not report the status of any of the students that we have," Watson said. "While most of the students may be properly documented, may be here legally, we don't know what that number is so we don't know what the cost is. We don't have that kind of information and data, and that's one thing we will see very quickly." Opponents of the bill, including at least one Republican Senate chair, have pointed out that as Tennessee's tax structure is sales-tax based, even undocumented residents pay into the system that funds public schools. Phillip Lovell, an associate director at the national education organization All4Ed, argued the legislation could actually increase costs for local schools, which are currently not equipped to act as immigration officials when enrolling children. "This is saying that babies, you start school at 5 years old, that you do not deserve to be educated when your parents pay taxes," said Sen. Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis. "It is very emotional, because we're not talking about numbers. We're talking about people. We're talking about politics getting in the way of policy that impacts people." Ruby Aguilar, a Nashville native and local teacher, testified in opposition, calling the bill divisive and a distraction from Tennessee's "real issues with education." "I wish you could spend just one minute of your day with my students and gauge just a snippet of all the potential and possibility for the future of Tennessee," Aguilar said. In a rare narrow, bipartisan committee vote, Akbari was joined by Sen. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin and Sen. Kerry Roberts, R-Springfield in voting no on the bill. The committee vote drew such a large crowd of opponents the committee opened up an overflow hearing room during the debate. After the vote, more than 100 protestors spilled into the hallway. "All kids deserve to learn," the crowd chanted. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee bill to document citizenship status of students advances
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
TN Republican lawmakers cast Latino immigrants as a racial and linguistic threat
In 2012, I went back to high school. This time it was as a 32-year-old anthropologist, observing the impact of immigration on Nashville. Firsthand, I saw the wisdom of Plyler v. Doe, the 1982 Supreme Court decision that protected undocumented children's access to free, public K-12 education. Justice William J. Brennan, in the majority opinion, warned that denying undocumented students access to K-12 schooling would create an 'underclass' with a 'second-class social status' in the nation. In the years since the youth I worked with graduated high school, I have seen the positive impact of the Plyler decision in their lives, Nashville, and, ultimately, Middle Tennessee. The recently introduced House Bill 793/Senate Bill 836 would allow public schools to refuse enrollment to undocumented youth, thereby upending Plyler. This bill is a shortsighted and dangerous piece of legislation that threatens Tennessee's future, its economy, and its social fabric. Through my long-term research in Nashville, I came to know many undocumented young people and learn of their aspirations for their future. They spoke movingly of the things they wanted to do: go to college, become teachers and buy their parents a house. They wanted to prove that they were worth the investment in them by their families − and by the state they called home. I have seen these young people, now in their very early 30s, do just that. They are nurses, lawyers, small business owners, warehouse workers, and homeowners. But they are more than their accomplishments: they love their children, help their neighbors, lead their churches, listen to their friends and make Tennessee their home. Opinion: Immigration law is being enforced and causing fear. Congress could have acted. They are sewn into the fabric of their communities, not as an underclass or second-class citizens, but as needed equal partners. House Majority Leader William Lamberth argues that the current larger number of undocumented people in the nation as compared to 1982 justifies relitigating Plyler. Central to this argument is the claim that the cost of educating a larger, often-non-English-speaking, low-income population draws resources away from U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents. Such logic is fallacious at best and demographic fearmongering at the worst. As was true in 1982, undocumented immigrants pay more into our public welfare systems than they receive now. This fact is particularly the case in Tennessee, where high sales taxes levy a greater tax burden on low-income families' income. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonpartisan tax policy organization, undocumented residents of Tennessee paid $314 million worth of state taxes. In contrast, the recent changes to the corporate franchise and excise taxes cost Tennessee $364.7 million from August-December 2024 alone. Scarcity arguments that scapegoat immigrants while ignoring the loopholes benefiting the wealthy and powerful that truly drain public coffers are not new. There are clear precedents such as anti-Irish sentiment in the age of the robber barons and hostility toward Italian and Jewish immigrants during the speculative boom of the 1920s. It is unsurprising then that immigrants' economic contributions are downplayed and basic needs overemphasized today. It is also no surprise that legislators invoke fiscal responsibility as they both enrich would-be oligarchs through tax breaks and undermine public schools through vouchers and calls to shutter the federal Department of Education. The most troubling aspects of HB793/SB836 are its insidious assumptions and potential implications. The bill continues another historical pattern in nativist movements: the demonization of difference. Latino immigrants are the latest group to be cast as a racial and linguistic threat to the American character. Ironically, past immigrant children were welcomed into public schooling in an attempt to fast-track Americanization. Supporters of HB793/SB836 will argue that the bill is about enforcing immigration law and not about race or language. Excluding undocumented immigrants from public schools today looks a lot like a racial removal program disguised as one based on immigration status. It is also a slippery slope and nefarious precedent to single out one population as a drain and deny educational access as a result. Injuries to one vulnerable group often hurt another. If Lamberth is serious about costs, he would be better off reforming regressive taxes rather than managing public school enrollments. HB793/SB836 doesn't withstand data-driven evidence about costs. It also does not pass a moral sniff test. I cannot − and will not − quantify the lives and value of undocumented people. All of the children in Tennessee are its future. If we don't want that future to be second-rate, we cannot, as Justice Brennan wrote, create 'second-class' citizens through denied education. Andrea Flores is the Vartan Gregorian Assistant Professor of Education at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She is the author of "The Succeeders: How Immigrant Youth Are Transforming What It Means to Belong in America," based on her research in Nashville, Tennessee. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee bill excluding undocumented school kids is wrong | Opinion
