By Gary Lloyd
MONTGOMERY — The Southern Poverty Law Center last week notified 96 Alabama school systems that their enrollment practices violate federal prohibitions against denying or discouraging the enrollment of children based on their immigration status or that of their parents.
In many cases, school enrollment forms require a Social Security number or a U.S. birth certificate, without explaining that such disclosure, under federal law, is voluntary and not necessary for enrollment.
The SPLC urged Alabama State Department of Education Superintendent Tommy Bice to ensure that all schools in the state’s 135 districts comply with federal mandates by the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year.
The Jefferson County Board of Education in Homewood
file photo by Gary Lloyd
“It is well-established law that all children, regardless of their immigration status, have a right to attend our public schools,” said SPLC attorney Jay Singh. “Too many schools in Alabama, however, are not living up to their legal responsibility.”
Last summer, at the SPLC’s urging, Bice issued a memo to local school superintendents reminding them that the lack of a Social Security number, a birth certificate or a parent’s driver’s license is not sufficient to deny enrollment. However, more than 70 percent of Alabama’s school districts have failed to comply, according to the SPLC. Earlier in May, the U.S. departments of Justice and Education issued guidance outlining the responsibilities of schools to provide equal access to educational opportunities regardless of a child’s or parent’s national origin or immigration status.
Hewitt-Trussville High School
photo courtesy of Trussville City Schools
“Schools across Alabama continue to embrace unlawful enrollment policies with impunity – policies that obstruct immigrant students’ path to the schoolhouse door and that remain in place despite recent state and federal guidance and 30-plus years of case law that preserves all students’ right of access to an education,” Singh said.
To ensure that enrollment in public school is not chilled, federal law requires that schools requesting a Social Security number must: indicate that disclosing the number is voluntary; provide the statutory or other basis upon which it is seeking the number; and explain how the number will be used.
A data summary of each school system is available at www.splcenter.org.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.
