The Undocumented Students Dilemma

An article from the School Board Association

Information about undocumented students?

1. Do public schools have to educate undocumented students, and if so, why?

Yes. In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Plyler v. Doe that Texas had violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by denying undocumented school-age children a free public education. Reasoning that such children are in this country through no fault of their own, the court concluded that they are entitled to the same K-12 education that the state provides to children who are citizens or legal residents.

Students or their parents may be residents of a public school district for purposes of the state's student residency laws, even if they are not "legal" residents or citizens of the U.S.

2, Can school districts ask students about their immigration status?

Probably not. Plyler does not directly answer the question of whether a school district may ask students about their immigration status. However, a number of organizations, including some state departments of education, interpret Plyler to require that a school district not chill or hinder an undocumented students access to education. Assuming this interpretation would be accepted by a court, school districts questioning stu­dents about immigration status likely would be invalid under Plyler because such questioning likely would dissuade undocumented children from enrolling in school.

Again, it is important to distinguish between residency in a school district's attendance area, and "legal" residency or citizenship of the U.S. In some instances, school districts have asked students about their immigration status during the enrollment process to prove residency of the student in the district's attendance area. School districts seeking to prove that a particular student is a resident of the district can ask for documentation such as a utility bill or a lease that pro­vides evidence of where the student lives but does not indicate immigration status.

3. Should school districts report undocumented students to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)?

Probably not. No federal law requires a school district to report undocumented students to immigration authorities, and arguably, school districts are prohibited from reporting them by Plyler. As dis­cussed above, any voluntary reporting of undocumented students could be consid­ered an affront to Plyler's mandate that undocumented children have access to education. If school authorities report an undocumented student to ICE and ICE subsequently deports or removes the stu­dent from school, the school district's actions could be viewed as having denied that student access to school. Even if reporting the student does not actually lead to a denial of access to school, reporting undocumented students would undoubtedly have a chilling effect on the right to access to education because, practically speaking, it would likely drive parents of undocumented students to pull their children out of school indefi­nitely.

It is difficult to determine with much certainty the answer to many of the legal questions about undocumented students that arise in schools because of the absence of statutory or case law directly answering the questions. In many instances, Plyer is the only relevant law. For this reason, school districts faced with legal questions about educating undocumented students should contact their school attorney. (END of article)•



As I have been visiting our schools a question that keeps coming to mind is what should be done about the AYP challenges and the problems created for our administrators and faculties by subgroups containing the children of illegal aliens. We do not know whether a child is undocumented or not but why. This is an issue for the public as the U.S. Supreme Court has left only two options; ignore the problem or enforce the U.S. Immigration laws and deport the illegal alien parents of these children. These illegal alien parents have broken our laws and illegally crossed our borders.

North Carolina spends $485 million dollars annually educating the children of illegal aliens not counting other benefits illegally obtained by these illegals. We need the current government administration, the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives and Executive Branch to start doing their job under the U.S. Constitution and enforcing the laws of this nation and protecting our borders. The elected officials and bureaucrats in Washington DC act as though the USA has unlimited wealth and resources. But we all know as do they that the United States of America is bankrupt we do not have the means to pay our bills.

Two weeks ago the Federal Reserve (a private bank controlled by foreigners) announced publicly, what we have suspected for a while, that it is monetizing the U.S.National Debt. This means printing U.S Dollars to pay our obligations. The result of this action is to devalue the dollar, a subtle hidden tax on every citizen and holder of U.S. debt. The Federal Reserve had to do this because those lenders who hold our debt are wary about the financial stability of our country due to our deficit spending and the rapid acceleration of our national debt. These lenders are beginning to divest themselves of our debt instruments and currency. Since few are buying our debt the Federal Reserve acted by announcing that they are monetizing our debt. The U.S.of A has begun its spiral decent into financial destruction.

These issues are noted because the majority of our elected leaders seem oblivious to these facts proposing amnesty and benefits to 12 million plus illegal aliens. Do we the American Citizens have the fortitude to tighten our belts by controlling our spending and accepting less of our own volition or will we wait to have it forced upon us? One only need read about the German Wiemar Republic following WWI. The plight of the Germans was forced upon them by war reparations but ours is due to our costly wars and our living beyond our means on borrowed money. The end of the Wiemar Republic was disastrous, and brought about the rise of Hitler, the NAZI Party, another world war and destruction across the globe.

Competition in Education

Competition is decidedly American and is at the core of what has made America great. Our free enterprise system is built on competition and it promotes suppliers providing the best product at the best price. I support competition in the education market and in particular for grades K through 12. The goal of our schools is to provide the best education for our students and competition provides healthy free market dynamics, which are beneficial to the quality of the education products offered by different vendors. There are those who want the education system to be a monopoly with no competition but that leads to poor performance and is an affront to individual liberty as granted by the nations founders. In the Rockingham County Schools we have competition between schools in our district and with other districts both in academics and sports. We also have competition with charter schools, private schools, Christian schools and home schools. The benefit of that competition is that the students and parents have a choice in the education that best meets their desires and needs.

Since the time the Judeo-Christian perspectives were taken out of the public school system parents have sought alternatives to public education. In the public schools religious education is suppressed and religious views inhibited to say the least. The public wants options to education where alternatives to public schools are available in order to provide additional services for students with special needs. I have been contacted about situations where our district school policies and procedures prohibit providing unique solutions to the specific need of the parent or student. As an example in several instances the charter school was better able to meet the requirements of the parents and the students than was available through the public school. Curriculum requirements of those who feel they must satisfy the moral and religious values of their children's education is also given an options to the public schools in alternative schools.

Some feel that educating students in a venue other than the public school system is taking away employment opportunities for teachers. This is certainly not the case as the alternative schools all require teachers and they also provide an alternative employment opportunity for teachers, thereby actually increasing employment opportunities for teachers. I do not know of a single teacher in Rockingham County who is afraid of competition, as most are well qualified and able to compete with the best in the free market.

I support choice for parents through financial credits, which allow the parents to choose the best education for their children. Who should deny parents the freedom to choose the best education for their children? After all our goal is to provide the best education for all our students and if that means alternatives to public schools, then parents should have the opportunity to choose the education that best meets their needs. A parent who wants an education for their child based on their values should not be forced to pay taxes for public education and then pay double by having to pay for a second enrollment into the school of their choice.

RCS Budget for 09/10

Many residents of Rockingham County want to know about the budget for the Rockingham District Schools. The budget information for 2009/10 is posted for your information.

$84,468,398 State Funding

$24,067,915 Local Funding (Includes $15,981,873 County appropriation)

$10,146,704 Federal Funding

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$118,683,017 Subtotal

$1,269,775 Capital outlay (County Funding)

$6,985,450 Food Service Funding (Self Supporting)

$697,655 Special Funding

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$127,635,897 Total

The state funding is specified, as are the federal funds. The county funding is more discretionary and is directed to needed areas as determined by the school administration.

The funding from the state for the budget in 2009/10 was cut due to the recession. The millions of dollars in cuts have impacted the local budget where about 70% of the expenditures are on personnel. These cuts have severely affected personnel levels but the superintendent’s visionary approach and conservative fiscal budgeting has allowed him to use the fund balance he built up to carry personnel levels until normal attrition can compensate for the lower numbers. This has not eliminated the pain but has stabilized the school system and provided for an orderly and less traumatic implementation of the cuts.

Technology update

Rockingham County Schools has truly become the North Star of North Carolina. Rockingham County Schools (RCS) is the leader in technology in the Piedmont Region and our state. Every classroom (715) plus media centers have Active Boards, data streaming, digital projects and high speed Internet access. Our teachers through the recent action by the school administration and school board are receiving laptops for the convenience of developing and using their technology skills in the classroom and doing their administrative responsibilities. Teachers are seeking jobs in Rockingham because they know these technological skills make them the best of the best in teaching. The student dropout rate in the county is at a twelve year low because of the technology in the classroom where students are getting engaged in the learning process through technology and our skilled teachers.

Rockingham County Communities have good reason to applaud these advancements because county organizations, foundations and individuals have contributed to funding this technology, to make these advancements happen.

Our plan for the future is to obtain laptop computers for our high school seniors and other students to provide them the technology for post secondary education and preparation for requirements of the work force. Rockingham Schools are on the leading edge of technology and moving well ahead of other counties in providing the greatest opportunities for our students and teachers through technology.

Nationwide online education is growing at an annual rate of 30%. Some areas already have public schools that are taught totally through online Internet classes. Most colleges and universities are offering growing numbers of courses via the Internet while others offer degrees totally online where students may never have to enter a physical college classroom. Now this online education is available at North Carolina schools and colleges K-20. See link at: http://www.elearningnc.gov/

Our Superintendent, Dr. Shotwell, is an educator and a technologist who has a vision of the future and continues to implement these technological changes for our students to advance.

We are losing control of our schools

Education Secretary, Arne Duncan testified before the House Budget Committee that the Recovery Act provided unprecedented levels of Federal support for our schools in return for a commitment to “meaningful reform strategies”. North Carolina state and local control of our public schools is being taken by the central (federal) government’s Department of Education. While the feds provide about 20 % of the funding for schools they exercise 100% control through programs like No Child Left Behind. As is always the case the further control is removed from the community the less responsive it is to the needs and desires of the people. As we have seen with NCLB the goals and objectives are good but obtaining changes that would make the program better and more effective are almost impossible. The founders of our nation provided in the constitution that some responsibilities belong to the states unless they are specifically given to the federal government. Education is one of those responsibilities but the federal government is slowly usurping the states rights under the U.S. Constitution. The ED department administers an annual budget of $68.6 billion for education.

The current year federal stimulus pumps another $100 billion into public schools, universities and early childhood education and brings the annual total to $168 billion. This is a move by the central government to increase their control of the states educational rights and responsibilities. To gain this control the central government is borrowing and printing money at a destructive rate that will make our children slaves to the lenders. This can only be stopped by the citizens of the states taking action at every opportunity to stop this un-constitution seizing of power.

Jefferson's thoughts on God and our country

The God of the Declaration of Independence is a divine force that created the universe, endows all men with human rights and is an actor in the drama of the world he made. “God watches over our country‘s freedom and welfare. We are not a world ungoverned by the laws and the power of a superior agent. Our efforts are in His hand and directed by It; and He will give them their effect in His own time.”
Thomas Jefferson

Suppressing Academic Freedom

The National Academy of Sciences, a private society chartered by congress in 1863 has recently defied the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution. They have done this by proposing the suppression of teaching and discussion of scientific evidence that opposes the Theory of Evolution. How can we understand that an organization chartered by the U.S Congress whose name includes the word “SCIENCE” propose that specific scientific evidence be suppressed. This is in violation of academic free speech and scientific methods.
They forget that the Theory of Evolution is a theory whose credibility is constantly decreasing as more scientific evidence is discovered that diametrically opposes its hypotheses. These factors have not deterred the Academy from contacting most Board of Education members in all 50 states with a proposal. The Academy proposes that only evidence that supports evolution which they claim is “scientific’‘ be taught in the public school science classes. While at the same time they propose suppressing any scientific evidence that opposes the theory of evolution. They claim this opposing scientific evidence is religious and must be suppressed merely because it agrees with the Judeo-Christian Bible. This claim is poppycock and must be resisted in the interest of truth in science. Consider signing the petition in support of Academic Freedom at http://www.academicfreedompetition.com/