New bill advances in TN to require K-12 students to prove citizenship

A bill to make public school systems require students seeking to enroll to show documentation of U.S. citizenship or legal status passed Tennessee’s Senate Education Committee 5-4 Wednesday. The bill would allow public school systems to charge tuition to students who aren’t documented in addition to requiring all students to show documentation. The bill would reverse a 43-year national precedent based on a 1982 Supreme Court decision that said illegal alien children living in the United States could not be excluded from a free public education based upon their immigration status. In the Senate, the bill now moves to the Finance Ways and Means Committee. The House version is scheduled for the K-12 Subcommittee on March 11.