Equity & Diversity

Pressure Builds To Nix School Ban for Illegal Immigrants

By Lynn Schnaiberg — June 19, 1996 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Republican leaders came under increased pressure last week to abandon a proposal to allow states to deny illegal immigrants a public education--some of it from their own party members.

Nearly half of the Senate’s members--47 senators, including five Republicans--sent a letter to GOP leaders expressing opposition to what has become known as the Gallegly amendment.

The provision, sponsored by Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., will be one of the most difficult issues lawmakers must resolve when a House-Senate conference committee meets to hammer out differences in the two chambers’ broad immigration-reform bills. The committee likely will meet soon, observers said last week. (See Education Week, April 24 and March 27, 1996.)

The House voted overwhelmingly in March to adopt the Gallegly amendment when it passed its immigration-reform bill, HR 2202. The Senate version of the bill passed last month and does not include such a measure.

At least 60 of the 100 senators must vote to cut off a filibuster, a tactic that may be used to block passage of the immigration bill if the Gallegly amendment is included in a final version.

Specifically, the amendment would allow states to deny a free, public K-12 education to immigrant children who are in the United States illegally, or to treat undocumented children as nonresidents who must pay tuition to attend school in a particular state.

From the moment the House approved the Gallegly provision, the measure has raised the ire of education, law-enforcement, and immigrant-rights groups.

Clinton administration officials--including Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley and Attorney General Janet Reno--repeatedly have said they would recommend that the president veto any immigration bill with such a provision. Observers have speculated that Republicans would include the provision in the name of presidential politics. The strategy, they suggest, is to force Mr. Clinton to veto the bill at a time when immigration control is a popular political issue--particularly in electoral-vote-heavy states like California.

“The ‘job magnet,’ not education, drives illegal immigration,” the Senate group’s letter said. “Illegal immigration should be controlled at the borders and airports, not in the classroom.”

Action in the Courts

While the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, former Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., support the Gallegly amendment, other prominent members of the GOP have voiced their opposition.

Former President Bush, for example, in a June 4 speech to the National Association of Mortgage Brokers in Reno, Nev., criticized the measure. Other Republican opponents include Mr. Bush’s son, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, as well as New York Gov. George E. Pataki and New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Plyler v. Doe that undocumented children have a right to a free public education. In light of the Plyler decision, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., brought up an amendment that year nearly identical to Mr. Gallegly’s. Mr. Dole was among those who voted then to kill the measure.

In 1994, California voters overwhelmingly approved the ballot initiative Proposition 187, which seeks to deny most public benefits--including education--to illegal immigrants. The courts, so far, have blocked implementation of the measure. (See Education Week, Nov. 29, 1995.)

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the June 19, 1996 edition of Education Week as Pressure Builds To Nix School Ban for Illegal Immigrants

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Equity & Diversity Opinion What March Madness Can Teach Schools About Equity
What if we modeled equity in action in K-12 classrooms after the resources provided to college student-athletes? asks Bettina L. Love.
3 min read
A young student is celebrated like a pro athlete for earning an A+!
Chris Kindred for Education Week
Equity & Diversity Girls Are Falling in Love With Wrestling, the Nation's Fastest-Growing High School Sport
A surging number of states have sanctioned the sport, with bolstering from various groups.
6 min read
Benton's Callie Hess, left, battles Plum's Saphia Davis, right, during the first found of the PIAA High School Wrestling Championships in Hershey, Pa., on March 7, 2024. Girls’ wrestling has become the fastest-growing high school sport in the country.
Callie Hess, left, battles Saphia Davis, right, during the first round of the PIAA High School Wrestling Championships in Hershey, Pa., on March 7, 2024. Girls’ wrestling has become the fastest-growing high school sport in the country.
Matt Rourke/AP
Equity & Diversity What's Permissible Under Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law? A New Legal Settlement Clarifies
The Florida department of education must send out a copy of the settlement agreement to school boards across the state.
4 min read
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media, March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms under a settlement reached March 11, 2024 between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged a state law which critics dubbed “Don't Say Gay.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media, March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms under a settlement reached March 11, 2024, between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged the state's “Don't Say Gay” law.
Phil Sears/AP
Equity & Diversity Q&A The Lily Gladstone Effect: A Teacher Explains the Value of Indigenous Language Immersion
Students in the Browning public schools district in Montana engage in a Blackfoot language immersion program for all ages.
5 min read
Lily Gladstone arrives at the 96th Academy Awards Oscar nominees luncheon on Feb. 12, 2024, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Lily Gladstone arrives at the 96th Academy Awards Oscar nominees luncheon on Feb. 12, 2024, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Jordan Strauss/Invision via AP