Illinois is at it again to make it easy for illegals.


CALL TO ACTION! (Deadline: Monday, February 19, 2007) Please be advised that an amendment recently proposed by the State Board of Education is currently available for public comment. This item has been posted on the agency’s web site. Please submit any comments or suggestions you may have to rules@isbe.net.



CALL TO ACTION!
(Deadline: Monday, February 19, 2007)

Please be advised that an amendment recently proposed by the State Board of Education is currently available for public comment. This item has been posted on the agency’s web site. Please submit any comments or suggestions you may have to rules@isbe.net.


Part 1 (Public Schools Evaluation, Recognition and Supervision)

This amendment will amplify Section 1.240 to be more explicit regarding the prohibition against enrollment practices that would be discriminatory toward undocumented students. In particular, it will provide that the documentation districts accept as proof of residency may not be restricted in such a way as to allow only for documents that undocumented students would not have.


Proposed Amendment to Part 1 (Public Schools Evaluation, Recognition and Supervision)

Prior to, and during the first few months of, each school year, agency staff receives numerous complaints regarding school districts’ improper enrollment policies and practices and their effect on undocumented children. Specifically, and notwithstanding current law, some school districts require for enrollment that prospective students submit documentation generally unavailable to undocumented persons (e.g., an Illinois driver’s license, Social Security card, voter registration card, public aid card or a document from DHS or DCFS). For example, a school district may require on its enrollment form that a prospective student, whose parent has already provided a lease or mortgage evidencing residency in the district, also provide two items from a list of six—where four of those six items are generally unavailable to undocumented students.

In other instances, school districts simply inquire into a student’s immigration status. Such practices have a chilling effect on the rights of immigrant students to enroll in public schools, because they create a legitimate fear of deportation and/or other consequences. While staff believes that current law (such as the United States Supreme Court’s 1982 decision in Plyler v. Doe) already prohibits such inequitable enrollment practices, this proposed amendment to Section 1.240 is intended to make these protections more explicit and to provide a concrete standard by which compliance can be gauged.



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