Do Texas public schools track the immigration and citizen status of its students? Well, yes and no.
Under state and federal law, school districts do not have the authority to collect or maintain information about the citizenship status of their students or their family members, as defined by federal Immigration and Naturalization Service regulations.
However, according to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), state and local education agencies are required to determine students’ immigration status using the definition cited in Title III, Part A, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, now known as the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015. This information is used to facilitate funding and coding in the Texas Public Education Management System.
According to that definition, an immigrant child or youth is one who is age 3 to 21, who was not born in any of the 50 states, District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico, and who has not attended one or more schools within the U.S. for more than three full academic years. Under that definition, even children born to U.S. citizens who were living abroad at the time of the child’s birth could be considered immigrants. One example of this could be children born while their parent(s) were stationed at a military base overseas.
Collecting this information allows the schools to apply for federal funding to develop language instruction programs to benefit Limited English Proficient (LEP) children and migrant youth.
Therefore, when viewing TEA statistics about the academic performance of immigrant students on the organization’s website, the data refers only to students who meet the Title III, Part A definition of immigrant and not to their legal status as citizens.
Furthermore, any personal information about the student the school collects is protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and cannot be shared with other agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), without parental consent.
Recently, the Trump administration rolled back a long-standing policy that prevented immigration officials from conducting enforcement activities at certain “sensitive locations,” including schools and churches. It remains to be seen whether ICE officials will begin conducting operations within the schools.
According to the 1982 Supreme Court ruling in Plyler v. Doe, the states cannot deny a child an education based on their citizenship status or take any actions that would discourage them from enrolling on campus. Immigration enforcement activities occurring on campus could conceivably be considered an action that would deter students from attending school.
The Supreme Court decision stemmed from a Texas law passed in 1975 that denied school enrollment to children who were unlawful immigrants and withheld state funds for the education of such children. Several lawsuits were filed against the state, including a class action suit representing children of Mexican origin who lived in the state of Texas.
The district court enjoined the enforcement of the law, stating that it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which says that no State shall deny “any person within its jurisdiction equal protection of the laws.” The decision was upheld in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The State of Texas continued its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, where a 5-4 vote affirmed the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision.