Plyler v. Doe

Plyler v. Doe is a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established that all children in the United States have an equal right to enroll and participate in public elementary and secondary schools without regard to their or their parents’ or guardians’ immigration status. The court’s decision overturned a Texas law allowing local school districts to deny enrollment to students who were not legally admitted to the United States. 

 Writing for the majority, Justice William Brennan stated: “By denying these children a basic education, we deny them the ability to live within the structure of our civic institutions, and foreclose any realistic possibility that they will contribute in even the smallest way to the progress of our Nation.”

Plyler v. Doe remains the law of the land, and subsequent federal guidance has made clear that under both federal civil rights laws and the mandates of the Supreme Court, “[school] districts may not request information with the purpose or result of denying access to public schools on the basis of race, color, or national origin.”

Nonetheless, several states have subsequently tried to challenge the education rights of undocumented students. In 2025, the Oklahoma State Board of Education approved a rule aimed at requiring school districts to determine the legal status of their students. This action was strongly criticized by Governor Kevin Stitt and the Oklahoma Legislature is working on disapproving the rule.