The Knoxville Board of Education adopted a legislative priority last week, urging the Tennessee General Assembly to abandon legislation that would require school districts to verify the citizenship status of their students and give districts the option of charging tuition or denying enrollment to illegal immigrants.
Listed in the agenda as “Free Education for All Children,” the policy priority states that the school board “urges the General Assembly to oppose any proposals requiring school districts to collect or monitor student immigration status, as they create legal risks, add administrative burdens, and distract from teaching and learning. The Board affirms the Tennessee Constitution and Supreme Court rulings guaranteeing a free public education for ALL children in Tennessee and opposes any measure that excludes—or seeks to exclude—any child from our schools.”
The board voted to adopt the legislative priority 6-3, according to WBIR, which reported that one board member said the “Free Education for All Children” agenda item was in response to “rumors” that Tennessee lawmakers would resume their effort to pass the legislation in 2026.
Introduced by State Senator Bo Watson (R-Hixson) in January as Senate Bill (SB) 836, lawmakers in the Tennessee State Senate approved the legislation in April.
However, the State House version of the legislation, House Bill (HB) 793 by House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland), only reached the Finance Ways and Means Subcommittee in April and was not passed before lawmakers left Nashville for the year.
Pundits have suggested the legislation is a direct challenge to Plyler v. Doe, the split decision from the U.S. Supreme Court issued in 1982, which determined that states “cannot prevent children of undocumented immigrants from attending public school unless a substantial state interest is involved.”
The case was decided in a 5-4 split decision by the high court, with Justices William Brennan, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, Lewis Powell, and John Stevens siding with the majority. Former Chief Justice Warren E. Burger was joined in his dissent by Justices Byron White, William Rehnquist, and Sandra Day O’Connor.
Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) said in April that the Supreme Court should reconsider the decision in light of the millions more illegal immigrants now living in the United States.
“There were 3 million illegals in the entire country in 1982. Fast forward to today, and every state… is a border state, every town’s a border town because of the failed policies of the federal government,” said Johnson during an April appearance on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Johnson later added, “We have somewhere around 90,000 children who are in the country illegally who are in public schools in Tennessee. Through careful analysis, it’s been determined that an English Language Learner student costs an additional $3,500 per year… It costs more to teach a child if they don’t know how to speak English.”
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Citizen children suffer when free schooling is offered to illegal alien invaders. Too much time is spent by teachers on the illegals, who don’t speak English. That’s time that could be spent on English-speaking citizen children. This is why our children are now graduating High School with a 4th grade education.