An amended version of HB 793 was submitted on Wednesday by its sponsor, Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland), which would require schools to track the citizenship status of enrolled students, then provide anonymized data to the Tennessee Department of Education and General Assembly.
Lamberth (pictured above) explained in Wednesday remarks in the State House that the legislation, which originally would have also given school districts the authority to charge tuition or deny enrollment to illegal alien families, was amended over concerns that it could have jeopardized $1.1 billion in federal education funding.
“When we began this journey, this bill was both a data bill, and would give every single local jurisdiction, every school board, the authority to charge tuition” to illegal aliens, or else deny enrollment, said Lamberth.
All that remains within the amended version, the Republican leader explained, is “literally a data portion, where every school will request,” citizenship information from students, “and then report back to us, specifically the Department of Education.”
Lamberth added that lawmakers could then use that information to inform further legislation, before explaining the change should avoid the loss of $1.1 billion in federal funding.
“I do want to thank the Trump administration for having a robust back and forth with us over the last roughly 10 months,” Lamberth said, before adding that he did not receive a clear answer on whether the bill would have jeopardized funding for Tennessee schools.
“We have not been given the idea that it would not,” said Lamberth. “I understand, in some part, why they would be unwilling to answer a question about a bill that has not passed yet.”
Asked whether the legislation would require schools to provide the names of illegal alien students to state officials, Lamberth replied, “Absolutely not.”
Lamberth’s amended legislation advanced from the House Finance, Ways, and Means subcommittee with nine votes in favor and three against. It is next scheduled for committee review on March 10.
The Tennessee State Senate passed a version of the legislation last year that would allow districts to charge tuition to illegal aliens, but stopped short of giving them authority to deny enrollment, after the bill was interpreted by experts as a challenge to the split 1982 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, Plyler v. Doe, which saw the majority determine that schools could not deny access to schools based on citizenship status.
Though not part of the slate of legislation Republicans proposed this year to align Tennessee with the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, lawmakers reportedly signaled interest in reviving the bill in December.
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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].
Image “Majority Leader William Lamberth” by Tennessee General Assembly.
