October 19, 2011

Frederick schools refuse to count students who are in the country illegally

Commissioners want to know how much it costs to educate illegal immigrants

by Margarita Raycheva, Staff Writer

The debate around counting the number of illegal immigrants enrolled in Frederick County schools has flared up — again.

Now that Frederick County has a new school board, commissioners have asked school officials to help them figure out how many public school students are in the U.S. illegally.

But school board members would not play along.

Brad Young, school board president, told commissioners Tuesday the school system already has done everything it legally can to accommodate commissioners’ questions about students’ immigration status.

“At the present time we don’t think we can go any further,â€