By Nuria Martinez-Keel, Oklahoma Voice
OKLAHOMA CITY — A proposed rule that would require schools to ask for proof of U.S. citizenship during enrollment unanimously passed the Oklahoma State Board of Education on Tuesday, sending the highly controversial proposal to the state Legislature.
Both the Oklahoma House and Senate have the choice of approving it or allowing Gov. Kevin Stitt to decide during the 2025 legislative session, which begins Feb. 3. The administrative rule would carry the force of law, if enacted.
The regulation is intended to collect citizenship information of both students and their parents, state Superintendent Ryan Walters said after the meeting. Walters leads the Oklahoma State Department of Education, which proposed the rule, and the state board that approved it.
Undocumented children still would be allowed to attend public schools, but districts would have to report to the state Education Department the number of students they enrolled whose families were unable to verify citizenship or legal residency.
Walters said the Education Department would share families’ immigration status with the federal government, if the agency is asked to provide it. He said Friday he would support immigration enforcement raids in schools, should President Donald Trump’s administration wish to carry them out.
The federal government forbids schools from asking about a student’s immigration status during enrollment. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled undocumented children cannot be denied a free, public education.
The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, though, said there is no lawful impediment to schools asking for proof of citizenship. Attorney General Gentner Drummond believes “state services should only be provided to legal residents of our state and nation,” spokesperson Phil Bacharach said.
A spokesperson for the Governor’s Office, Meyer Siegfried, said Friday that Stitt supports strong enforcement of immigration laws and “believes we have a responsibility to know who is in our state and how taxpayer dollars are being spent.”
A large crowd of students and concerned Oklahomans gathered outside the Education Department building Tuesday to protest citizenship checks in schools.
Students in the crowd carried signs and Mexican flags and called the rule hurtful and wrong.
High school student Thomas Suarez criticized it directly to Walters and the board during the public comment portion of the meeting.
“The idea that a child wanting to pursue an education must be profiled before learning is distasteful,” Suarez said. “It is sad that you, Mr. Walters, stand here pretending to care about the students while at the same time advocate for the blatant discrimination of Latino students like me.”
Advocates of the immigrant community warned the rule, if approved, could deter undocumented families from enrolling their children in public schools.
Walters said having an accurate count of students coming from undocumented families could give a clearer picture of the resources needed to accommodate them, including English learner programs.
Public schools currently provide English language programs to immigrant students without asking them whether they entered the country legally.
The state superintendent said his agency will cooperate with federal investigators, even if that includes immigration enforcement entering schools.
“Federal law is clear,” Walters told reporters Tuesday. “You participate with a federal investigation. If federal law enforcement comes into a school or calls us to get information, we’re going to work with them.
“If that’s providing information, providing resources, providing personnel, we’re going to do that.”
The rule now is in the hands of Oklahoma lawmakers along with a bundle of others the state Board of Education approved. Another of the proposed regulations would require Oklahoma teachers to pass a written version of the U.S. Naturalization Test before earning or renewing their teaching certification.
The head of the House Common Education Committee, Rep. Dick Lowe, R-Amber, observed the state board vote from the audience seating at the meeting. Afterward, he declined to share his opinion of the approved rules but said some schools have reached out with concerns and questions about a number of the regulations.
Although the House Rules Committee is responsible for voting on administrative rules from state agencies, Lowe said he expects his Common Education Committee members will review the proposals from the Education Department.
“It will go through the rule process like all rules from every agency,” Lowe said.
