OKPOLICY.ORG
During Wednesday morning’s State Board of Education meeting, the state superintendent announced that the Oklahoma Department of Education would be issuing guidance to school districts to identify costs and resources associated with educating undocumented immigrant children. OK Policy wants to ensure that Oklahomans understand the historical context — see Plyler v Doe (1982) — about the right of every child in this country to receive a free, public education.
Statement from OK Policy:
Immigrant children, like all children in the United States, have the fundamental right to an education.
The Supreme Court affirmed this in a landmark ruling more than 40 years ago, with even the dissenting opinion noting it “is senseless for an enlightened society to deprive any children – including [undocumented immigrants] – of an elementary education,” in part because “the long-range costs of excluding any children from the public schools may well outweigh the costs of educating them.”
The majority of the court said that “[b]y 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.”
The court said that holding children accountable for their parents’ actions does not comport with fundamental conceptions of justice.
Throughout our state’s history, immigrants have proven integral to Oklahoma’s success, enriched our cultural diversity, and strengthened our economy. Our immigrant neighbors contribute to our communities, including paying taxes. In 2022 alone, undocumented immigrants paid $227 million in state and local taxes, nearly 22% of which went to property taxes that serve as a backbone to local school funding.
Ensuring all children in Oklahoma have access to a high quality education is a moral imperative, and it’s an essential building block to our state’s future success. Our state will be better served when our elected officials bring laser-like focus on ensuring a high-quality public education for all children rather than seeking their own political gain through divisive rhetoric that weakens the fabric holding our communities together.
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Additional Resources
- Access to Education – Rule of Law [U.S. Courts]
- Protecting Immigrant Children’s Right to Education [American Bar Association]
- Public Education for Immigrant Students: Understanding Plyler v. Doe [American Immigration Council]
