Oklahoma School Leaders Don’t Agree With the Plan of a Top Official to Keep Track of the Burden of Illegal Immigrants
Twelve Oklahoma school districts said they would not check the immigration status of children if asked by the state’s education department. This is the latest sign that people are becoming more against State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters.
At last week’s meeting of the State Board of Education, Walters said that he was going to ask school officials to help his office figure out “the cost and burden” of illegal immigration on their districts. “The border has not been kept safe by the federal government.” “This is making our schools worse,” he said. He didn’t say more about what districts will have to do, but he did say that the Oklahoma State Department of Education would tell them what to do in the next few weeks.
“Parents in Oklahoma have asked for action to be taken to stop woke indoctrination in the classroom,” Walters told NBC News. “I will continue to fight to get Oklahoma schools on a path to success.” “Districts that don’t follow the rules will be held responsible.”
Walters, a Republican, has spent his first year and a half in office focusing on culture war problems. In June, he demanded that public schools teach the Bible. His immigration announcement is the latest in a string of controversial actions he has taken.
It took school officials and teachers a while to speak out against Walters, but now the backlash is growing.
“The focus has shifted from public school students to self-centered political goals,” said Susan Wray, who is the principal of an elementary school in Edmond and used to work for the state’s education department. “What is going on now has nothing to do with our kids, and that’s what hurts teachers.”
Based on past decisions by the Supreme Court, public schools must accept kids from their areas, even if they are immigrants or don’t speak or understand English. According to the U.S. Department of Education, school districts also can’t ask kids about their immigration status if that information could be used to keep them from getting a free public education.
“I will have to side with the U.S. Supreme Court over an elected official in the state,” said Rob Miller, director of Bixby Public Schools, which is one of the schools that won’t check the immigration status of a student if they are asked. “One of my jobs as superintendent is to follow the law. This is also true for other superintendents in our state.”
An immigration-focused think tank called the Migration Policy Institute says that as of 2022, there are 90,000 illegal immigrants in Oklahoma, with 6,000 school-age children among them. The institute found that two-thirds of them likely live in the counties that include Oklahoma City and Tulsa, which are the state’s biggest.
The Oklahoma Policy Institute, a nonpartisan study group, says that portraying immigrants as a burden is not accurate. The group said in a statement on July 31 that their immigrant friends help our communities by doing things like paying taxes. They cited a recent national study on the topic.
In a statement, Oklahoma City Public Schools said, “We do not and will not ask about the immigration status of our students or their families.” Tulsa Public Schools didn’t say if it would do that, but it did say that it would give an education to “every young person who comes through our doors.”
Broken Arrow, Moore, Norman, and Union, four of the other eight biggest districts, said they would not check the immigration status of their students. Union Public Schools spokesman Chris Payne said that would “create a chilling effect” and make kids and families less likely to sign up for school.
The feeling is the same in smaller areas. Schools in Deer Creek, Pryor, Millwood, Owasso, and Jenks told NBC News that they do not ask kids about their status and do not plan to do so in the future.
Head of Collinsville Public Schools, Jeremy Hogan, said, “We would not be able to provide ‘cost’ data to the state because we would not ask for immigration documentation.”
Right-wing groups in the state and across the country have praised Walters for the views he has taken and the fights he has fought while in office. In April, Kevin Roberts, who runs Project 2025, thanked Walters for his “heroic work.”
Walters put pressure on the school system to fire a principal for being a drag queen outside of school, and the principal quit. He said he would take over Tulsa Public Schools after the leaders of the school told a board member she couldn’t use the microphone to lead prayers at a graduation. Walters is the head of the State Board of Education. They have been trying for more than a year to take away the license of a teacher who in 2022 gave a link to the Brooklyn Public Library’s online lending catalog.
In response to criticism, Walters called teachers’ unions “terrorist organizations.” After many school districts said they would not follow his orders to teach the Bible, he told administrators who didn’t follow his orders to move to California.
“Those are not the words of leaders who should be trying to bring people together to make our state’s schools better,” Bixby Superintendent Miller said. “And I think people are getting tired of all that.”