Board of Education Approves Measure Mandating Parents to Reveal Immigration Status During Student Enrollment – One America News Network
OAN Staff James Meyers
3:56 PM – Tuesday, January 28, 2025
The Oklahoma Board of Education has approved a proposal mandating that all parents provide their child’s immigration status or citizenship details when enrolling them in state schools.
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Following a unanimous 6-0 vote, the proposal will proceed to the state legislature for approval by lawmakers and the governor before it can become official.
According to Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, the intention behind the proposal is to gather additional data regarding the status of children of illegal immigrants. Nevertheless, a CNN article published on January 28th indicated that parents would also need to disclose their own immigration status or citizenship, although this has been contradicted by other reports.
As per AP News, parents or guardians must submit a “U.S. birth certificate, U.S. passport, consular report of birth abroad, permanent resident card, or other legal documentation.”
“Our regulation regarding the accounting of illegal immigration is straightforward. It’s simply about tracking how many students from illegal immigrant families are enrolled in our schools,” Walters explained.
Students lacking legal status will not be barred from enrolling or attending classes under the proposed regulation. However, it will require districts to monitor the number of students for whom evidence of citizenship was not provided and report these figures to the Oklahoma State Department of Education, omitting any personally identifiable information.
“Nothing in this Section shall be construed to prohibit, or inhibit, any child from receiving the education they are entitled to,” states the proposal.
Walters also cautioned those seeking enrollment in Oklahoma schools.
“If law enforcement requests information, we are legally obligated to provide it,” Walters noted. “If they come in and ask for specific data, we will gladly furnish it.”
“This change would be rather simple, given that we already collect a lot of information at the time of student enrollment,” he concluded.
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