By Nuria Martinez-Keel, Oklahoma Voice
OKLAHOMA CITY — A proposal to require Oklahoma students to verify their immigration status while enrolling in public schools drew more than an hour of opposition during a hearing Friday.
The Oklahoma State Board of Education is expected to vote Jan. 28 on the proposed rule, along with six other suggested changes to the state’s administrative codes, which have the force of law once enacted.
Critics of the immigration rule warned it could drive undocumented families away from schools, contravene federal law and unfairly exclude undocumented students from Oklahoma’s public education system. Several speakers deemed it discriminatory against immigrant children and a ploy to draw a lawsuit.
Friday was the final day members of the public could submit written comments about the suggested administrative rules. Those who wished to comment in person attended the public hearing at the Oklahoma State Department of Education headquarters in Oklahoma City.
All 19 speakers who remarked on the immigration rule said they oppose having schools conduct citizenship checks.
The proposed regulation would require families to provide proof of U.S. citizenship or legal residency when enrolling their children in Oklahoma public schools. The rule would not forbid any students from attending public schools, but districts would have to report to the state Education Department the number of undocumented children they enrolled.
“The latest proposal is an unfunded mandate, an unnecessary administrative burden and effectively requires educators to act as Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” said Molly Bryant, senior director of immigrant and refugee services at YWCA Tulsa, during the hearing. “These actions are politically motivated taxes on schools and do nothing to further the mission of educating our children.”
A similar law Alabama enacted in 2011 was overturned as a result of a federal lawsuit, but it still showed an impact in classrooms. Withdrawals and absences spiked among Hispanic students after the law passed.
The federal government forbids schools from asking for students’ immigration status during enrollment. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that states cannot deny undocumented children equal access to public education.
Oklahoma City Public Schools announced it will continue following these federal protections.
“OKCPS does not, nor do we have plans to, collect the immigration status of our students or their families,” Superintendent Jamie Polk said in a Dec. 20 announcement.
Oklahoma’s proposal is “astonishingly backwards,” said Tamya Cox-Toure, executive director of the state’s American Civil Liberties Union affiliate. She said it would create an “intolerable burden” for immigrant families, especially Hispanic Oklahomans.
Cox-Toure hinted at potential litigation if the rule passes. During the public hearing, she told the Education Department’s legal staff that the ACLU of Oklahoma is “prepared to support students, by evidence of the two current lawsuits we have against this department.”
“To protect Oklahoma students from segregated schools, to defend against anti-immigrant policies, and discharge your oath to protect and defend the laws and constitution of the United States, this department must reject this rule,” Cox-Toure said.
Should the state Board of Education pass the rule, the Oklahoma Legislature will have the choice in the coming months to either approve the measure or allow Gov. Kevin Stitt to decide whether to enact it.
Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, D-Oklahoma City, said the proposal is so “overwhelmingly wrong” that it warrants the resignation of the state’s top education official.
“Rules like these are only causing more trauma for our kids,” Alonso-Sandoval said. “The state Department (of Education) should be there to protect our kids, to provide them with a quality education, not harm them and traumatize them.”
State Superintendent Ryan Walters, who proposed the rule, said the measure would end “sanctuary schools” and quantify the need for English education programs, as well as other school resources necessary to serve students arriving from other countries.
“Today’s hearing is a great step forward in the process that will lead to new rules in place to protect Oklahoma students,” Walters said in a statement. “Not only do our rules serve Oklahoma taxpayers, but they will help ensure resources are directed to the students who need them most.”
Walters did not attend the public hearings Friday. The Education Department’s general counsel, Michael Beason, and staff attorney Kory Kile led the proceedings. One state Board of Education member, Kendra Wesson, attended.
If the state Board of Education were to reject the rule, it would be its first time casting a single vote against a proposal from Walters since he took office in January 2023.
Angela Baumann, an English teacher at Lawton High School, said schools don’t need to know students’ immigration status to educate them.
“I can tell you that their citizenship makes no difference to their needs,” Baumann said. “They need to be loved and cared for by people that are in a safe environment with them … and they don’t need to feel ostracized by a community because they may not be from here.”
