Do Immigrant Children have a Right to an Education?

There have been several recent news articles in North Carolina and Florida about immigrant children being denied admission to public schools. In fact, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a complaint again the Collier County, Florida school system for refusing to admit two non- English speaking high school students. There have been several pretexts for these denials. One is the review of transcripts. Many courses taken in other countries do not have US course equivalencies. In some other countries, a high school diploma is not the equivalent to a US high school diploma.

Another stumbling block is inoculations. Students can be legally denied admission to school if they do have approved health records.

Some classroom teachers, who do not wish to be identified, have stated that they believed that students were held out of public schools so they would not have to take the state standardized assessment tests which could reflect poorly on a school’s performance.

What is a district's responsibility to accept immigrant children? Many years ago the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) sent a directive to members statting that counselors in schools were not agents of the US Customs and Immigration Service and were not obligated to report non-documented immigrants. But that does not seem to be the issue with the current cases. Today’s issues revolve around course equivalencies, and language issues. School distracts are obligated to provide ELL services to those students whose native language is not English. Additionally,in some cases, schools do not have appropriate placements for students- typically high school students nearing graduation. The immigration issue is handled differently from state to state, as the individual states, not the US government, are responsible for the education of its children. Some districts have instituted virtual classroom where students- if they have access to a computer and the Internet- can complete course work at home at their own pace, for credit.

With the end of the academic year fast approaching and the ACLU complaint yet unresolved, it will be of interest to see how all of this will play out. Being a Presidential election year, it will also be of interest to see if the candidates, who have different opinions about immigration in general, address this issue.

c. 2016 J. Margolis