A state law meant to crack down on illegal immigration is burdening schools with paperwork and threatening or delaying student-related events, educators complain.
From traveling on field trips to renting spaces for proms and other school functions to paying for staff training and development, some education activities are being thrown into question because of a law passed in the last legislative session — an unintended consequence that has the law’s sponsor considering a review of the measure in the upcoming legislative session.
The measure directs schools and other public employers to make sure vendors they do business with hand over affidavits showing they’ve conducted federal e-verify checks that workers are legal U.S. residents.
Abiding by the law, known as Senate Bill 160, is proving to be a challenge because many school accounting systems are not well-equipped to collect the information, state auditors said. Plus, some vendors outside Georgia are not providing the affidavits or other documentation — leaving students and teachers in a lurch when trying to plan important events.
In Fulton County, a group of about 30 students from Chattahoochee High School recently sought to buy train tickets to attend a prestigious science competition at Yale University. But they were not able to obtain the necessary affidavit from the train company, school officials said.
“Those problems are out there,” said Claire Arnold, director of the Education Audit Division for the state auditor’s office. “Virtually across the whole gamut we’ve been receiving questions. Pretty much each school district is having to consult with their legal counsel as to what meets the requirements of the statute and what they need to do.”
Concerned that the Chattahoochee High School group might not be able to attend the January event, the school turned to Fulton school system Chief Financial Officer Robert Morales, who issued a “waiver” to buy the tickets. Morales said the law is “onerous” and that other schools besides Chattahoochee have complained about it.
“It’s a one-time waiver I’m granting, that technically I don’t have the authority to grant,” Morales said. “I’m willing to say that on behalf of the district. I’m going to take the hit because I don’t want to be known as the person who stopped the (Science Olympiad) team from participating in this.”
Alex Patton, a 10th grader at Chattahoochee High planning to go on the Yale trip, has built a Rube Goldberg-type machine to compete with students around the country. He said it would be disappointing if the group wasn’t able to attend.
“I just think it’s kind of ridiculous,” Patton said. “I think the government should be encouraging … these opportunities for us to share our ideas and visit these prestigious schools.”
Before the law, school districts were required to get e-verify affidavits from vendors primarily for construction-related work. But that changed to include “any performance of labor or services for a public employer using a bidding process or by contract” under which the labor or services exceed $2,499.99.
That means “agencies will need to obtain affidavits from a significantly larger number of vendors than in previous years,” according to a report presented by Arnold at a November Georgia Association of School Business Officials meeting highlighting changes under the law.
Some schools have complained the expense threshold is too low, requiring more time and work in seeking affidavits.
Also, schools are having a hard time getting the information from vendors, Arnold said. “Vendors do not want to comply. And a lot of vendors are telling them that they don’t need their business.”
“Sometimes it becomes problematic for some things that are considered a service, like your train tickets or airline tickets or hotel reservations and things like that,” Arnold said. “Vendors do not want to comply because they’re utilizing the federal definition of the fiscal performance of work,” she said, and they do not believe that they have to adhere to those requirements in the Georgia law.
School districts are attempting to comply with the law, but border counties in Georgia are running into problems with out-of-state vendors refusing to provide the affidavits, Arnold said.
At the college and university level, studies-abroad programs are also running into the issue of vendors not providing the affidavits, she added.
The chief aim of Senate Bill 160 was to block illegal immigrants from obtaining state driver’s licenses, grants, public housing and retirement benefits. The law, which took effect July 1, also prevents people from using foreign passports to get public benefits in Georgia, unless those passports include paperwork indicating they are in the country legally.
The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Frank Ginn, a Republican who represents District 47 in northeast Georgia, said the law was not intended to burden schools.
Ginn said he had not heard of schools or other public entities having problems with the law, but that he would be open to possibly revisiting it when lawmakers meet for the next legislative session.
“We’re always trying to continually improve the method of service, the reduction of bureaucracy in the way we operate,” Ginn said. “If there really is a problem there, then I’m sure we’ll bring it back up and review it.”
Phil Kent, a member of Georgia’s Immigration Enforcement Review Board, said he believes the “jury is out on how onerous (the law) is.”
“The goal is to have a legal workforce,” he said. “This is the reason this law was put in place. … It’s a new law, so they’re (schools) still trying to comply. … There’s a lot of educational process that goes on here, too. I think that’s why it takes some time and why we should have a wait-and-see attitude.”
In the meantime, schools such as Northview High in Fulton are trying to navigate the law. Principal Paul Brannon said the changes are raising a variety of issues — from student field trips to getting referees to officiate sporting events.
“When you talk about a high school, maybe we’re getting flights for our debate team to go to Kentucky,” he said. “If we have 30 kids going, that’s probably going to be over $2,500. Who are we going to contact at Delta? We’re just trying to make sure we’re doing the right thing by the law.
“For us, as a school, we have plenty of other things to worry about. … We’re basically doubling our work, just in paperwork. It’s more time-consuming than anything else.”
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