Nashville Superintendent Urges Haslam to Support 'Tuition Equality' for Undocumented

Written by Joey Garrison
The Tennessean

Metro Nashville Director of Schools Jesse Register is calling on Gov. Bill Haslam to support “tuition equality” for undocumented students in Tennessee.
In a letter sent to the governor Tuesday, the superintendent urged Haslam to support making in-state tuition at universities available to all high school graduates, including undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. He also applauded Haslam’s new plan to offer free tuition at Tennessee’s two-year colleges, but believes it too should be available to high school graduates who are undocumented.

“This is not an effort to address immigration issues,” Register wrote. “Hopefully those issues will be resolved at the national level. This is an effort to take action at the state level to ensure we keep the best and brightest students here in Tennessee.“It would surprise many Tennesseans to learn U.S. citizens are born and raised in Tennessee do not qualify for in-state tuition if their parents lack immigration documents. Neither do children brought here by their parents without documentation. I know children who have been here for years, even past valedictorians from our high schools, who want to continue their educations in Tennessee but cannot. We lose many of these talented students to universities in other states while others are never able to pursue higher education.”

Register presides over the school system with the most non-English-speaking students in Tennessee, and its immigrant population continues to grow. Last year, nearly 15 percent of its more than 81,000 students were considered English language learners. For the first time, more than 20 percent of Metro students this year are Latino.

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