Protecting Immigrant Access to Public K-12 Schools: State Legislation

Across the country, policymakers, advocates, educators, and community members are coming together to help immigrant students and their families feel as safe as possible in schools. Since 2017, more than a dozen states have enacted laws aimed at protecting immigrant students and their families. After the Trump administration rescinded the policy that generally prohibited immigration enforcement at sensitive areas including schools, many more states introduced bills protecting access to schools.

This issue brief is designed for individuals or groups advocating for state legislation to protect access to a free public K-12 education for immigrant students and for immigrant students to be safe and protected while in school.  The brief outlines some steps that states and schools have taken across the country, along with model state bill language.

 The first step is to identify your state’s existing laws that protect access to schools or safeguard students’ privacy and any laws addressing the role of localities in federal immigration enforcement.  You can work with a local legal group or state legislative staff to identify where to place any revision in the state’s laws. For example, you may need to decide whether to amend the state’s Education Code or another provision of state law.

Second, you will need to identify the process for getting these changes done. Given the immediacy of the administration’s enforcement actions against children in school settings, consider if there is a process that allows you to fast track the implementation of the bill if it were enacted.

We recommend that any bill aiming to ensure access to a free public K-12 education and safe spaces in schools for immigrant students and their families address these critical issues:

• Ensure that all children, regardless of immigration status, have access to a public K-12 education.
• Protect privacy and data to the maximum degree possible under the law, including addressing barriers related to requests for documents or information, or the collection, use and disclosure of data. Create “safe schools” policies and protocols, including procedures for staff to follow if law enforcement appears at or is employed to work at a school.

For footnotes, bibliography, and the complete resource, please refer to the PDF version linked below.