Justice Department officials disclosed Thursday that they have investigated the enrollment practices of Georgia’s nearly 200 school districts since 2012 to ensure they are not barring students based on their immigration status.
They said they found 30 districts that had “barriers to enrollment,” including requirements for Social Security numbers. A Justice Department spokeswoman said she could not immediately identify those districts, but she indicated they have cooperated and made changes.
“We ended up working very collaboratively with the state Department of Education there to address some of the concerns that we had about enrollment procedures,” Jocelyn Samuels, acting assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, said about Georgia during a conference call with reporters Thursday, “and ensure that they would adopt processes going forward that did not bar or chill the attendance of undocumented students.”
A spokesman for Georgia’s Education Department said his agency worked with the Justice Department and ultimately issued guidance for proper enrollment practices.
“We did cooperate with them,” state Education Department spokesman Matt Cardoza said.
The Justice Department said the state issued that guidance after the federal government investigated the enrollment policies in Henry County’s school system and determined other districts were unclear about what could be required. The federal government reached an agreement with Henry County’s school system in November 2012 to ensure students may enroll there even if they don’t provide Social Security numbers. A Henry County schools spokesman said the county system has revised its enrollment forms.
Samuels spoke to reporters after Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced new federal guidelines to make sure schools don’t screen students based on their immigration status. Timing their announcement to coincide with the enrollment that is now under way for next school year, they highlighted the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe that says school districts must educate children regardless of their legal status.
Federal officials said they have received 17 complaints since 2011, when they publicly warned schools against inquiring about the immigration status of students. In addition to Georgia, the government has probed enrollment policies in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and the District of Columbia, federal education and justice officials said.
The new federal guidelines come as the Obama administration is pushing for a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration system. The Democratic-led Senate passed bipartisan immigration legislation last year. The White House has endorsed the measure, but it remains stalled in the Republican-led House.
The new federal guidelines tell school officials they may ask enrollees to prove their residency with phone or water bills and lease agreements, but they should not inquire about the immigration status of students and their parents.
The guidelines also warn school districts they may not deny enrollment to students if they or their parents choose not to provide their Social Security numbers. Some schools use those numbers to identify students. A Valdosta schools spokeswoman confirmed in 2011 that her school district was revising its forms to clarify it is optional for students to supply that information.
In January 2012, there were an estimated 400,000 immigrants living illegally in Georgia, according to the Homeland Security Department.
In 2011, Georgia lawmakers considered legislation that could have run counter to the federal government’s guidelines. House Bill 296 would have required the state Board of Education to tally the expenditures, by school district, for immigrants without papers in kindergarten through 12th grade. But in accordance with the decision in Plyler v. Doe, the state Board of Education’s rules prohibit school officials from inquiring about the legal status of students. HB 296 never made it out of committee in 2011.
Citing that Supreme Court decision, Holder said enrollment policies that bar immigrants without legal status leave “young people underprepared and ill-equipped to succeed and to contribute to what is in many cases the only home they have ever known.”
“Such actions and policies not only harm innocent children,” he said, “they also markedly weaken our nation.”
Duncan said “too many schools and school districts are still denying rights to immigrant children.”
“In several instances,” he said, “school leaders are inappropriately requiring information that may be barring or discouraging students from ever enrolling in school. That behavior is unacceptable and it must change.”
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