A bill that would require Oklahoma public schools to verify the immigration status of all students and report it to the state Department of Education drew fire from Tulsa Hispanic leaders Monday as well as criticism from Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Keith Ballard.
“I don’t think it’s wise to make schools responsible for gathering that kind of information,” Ballard said. “It would be a huge undertaking and detract from our mission, which is to teach kids.”
Earlier in the day, representatives of the Tulsa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce said the measure, House Bill 3384, by Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, would create an unfunded mandate for already-strapped schools and is a step toward shutting illegal immigrants out of public education. (Say again? Evidence abounds that schools burdened with illegal students, which are then forced to teach them, are experiencing an unfunded mandate.– Ed.)
“The American people have always regarded education as a matter of supreme importance and a primary vehicle for transmitting American values,” chamber spokesman Mario Lizana said. “By denying undocumented students a basic education, we deny them the ability to live within civic institutions and structure and foreclose the possibility they will contribute in even the smallest way to the progress of this state.”