NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A bill that would have required school districts to ask students their citizenship status is likely now dead for the year.
House Majority Leader and State Rep. William Lamberth said he was taking the bill out of the legislative picture for the rest of the year until the state gets confirmation from the U.S. Department of Education that their bill won't jeopardize federal funding for Tennessee.
"We fully trust the Trump administration will not withhold federal dollars from our schools due to the passage of House Bill 793/Senate Bill 836,” Lamberth said. “However, out of an abundance of caution, we want to be exceptionally careful before we move forward to ensure no federal taxpayer dollars are at risk. Our first obligation is to prioritize public dollars for students lawfully in the United States. The last thing we want to do is cause our schools to be further drained of much-needed resources."
It's not clear when state lawmakers will hear back from the Trump administration, but it will likely be after the legislature adjourns in 2025. As written, the legislation would have gone against Plyler v. Doe, a Supreme Court of the United States decision that said schools cannot deny any undocumented child access to the K-12 education because it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.
This bill has been contentious at every turn. Troopers have had to physically remove those people against the bill from committee rooms. It's also resulted in the arrest of an 80-year-old woman whom troopers carried out for refusing to leave the room.
As written, the Senate bill means all districts have to ask and collect the citizenship info but does not require them to deny enrollment. In the House versions, school districts have the ability to make the decision of whether they want to participate in this legislation of asking students their legal status.
The House and Senate never met for a conference committee to marry their ideas into one bill language.
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The line ''see something, say something" took on new meaning recently in Bowling Green. Two alert neighbors helped tip police to stolen Corvettes from the nearby assembly plant. That led law enforcement to find 8 stolen Corvettes worth over $1 million. We may all be able to learn a little lesson from this.
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