At a sparsely attended meeting last year, the Saugus Public School Committee approved a new admissions policy, it said, to streamline the process of enrolling students.
But critics say the policy — including stringent requests for proof of “legal” residency and “criminal and civil penalties” for violators — has another goal: keeping immigrants out of the small school district outside Boston.
The debate over welcoming immigrant children into America’s schools extends far beyond the Boston suburbs. Advocates fear it could figure more prominently into a national agenda if Donald Trump wins a second term in the White House.
Conservative politicians in states such as Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee are questioning whether immigrants without legal residency should have the right to a public education, raising the possibility of challenges to another landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision.
For decades, children of families living in the country illegally have had the right to attend public school based on a 1982 Supreme Court decision known as Plyler v. Doe. In a 5-4 vote, justices held it is unconstitutional to deny children an education based on their immigration status.
The new Saugus policy requires new students to share immigration records and says children must be “legal residents whose actual residence is in Saugus,” where the share of students who are learning English has nearly tripled to 31% over the last decade. Families must also complete a town census, sign a residency statement and provide occupancy and identity documents.
Civil rights attorneys say the requirements are onerous and violate federal law by disproportionately harming students from immigrant families, who may lack many of the required documents, regardless of whether they’re living in the country legally.
About half of Americans say public K-12 education is going in the wrong direction
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