Fiscal responsibility is a bipartisan priority. Two bills being heard in the General Assembly this week will directly impact funding available to public schools by imposing unfunded mandates to track immigration status of students, costing Knox County Schools an estimated $3 million. HB 1711 and HB 1710 will be heard in House committee on March 11 and HB 793 (having already passed the Senate) will be heard in House Committee on March 10.
By requiring schools to collect and report immigration-related information about students,
- They create new administrative duties for school districts, requiring additional staffing and reporting systems
- They carry potential risk to federal education funding because they have not reconciled conflicts with federal protections guaranteeing access to public education regardless of immigration status (see Plyler v. Doe).
This is where we are.
We cannot afford to hinder school systems’ progress
In Knox County, schools have demonstrated measurable progress in recent years. The district’s graduation rate reached 93 percent, core subjects have seen multi-year academic gains, and the state designated Knox County Schools as an “Advancing” district reflecting four years of consistent growth. This is real academic momentum.
These outcomes are shared successes with our entire community and the General Assembly. They are the result of a commitment to support classroom instruction, through allocated resources, and the resulting systems that are intentionally designed to support learning. You can find a copy of the Knox County Schools Annual Report on the district website and see how funding allocations affect the 60,000 students in Knox County Schools. It’s worth noting three quarters of the budget goes directly to the people working with students ‒ teachers and school staff…