Proposed State Laws Seek to End Local Taxpayer Funding for Educating the Undocumented

The average cost of educating a K–12 student exceeds $15,000 per year. More than 29 percent of students are from households headed by illegal immigrants.

Young unaccompanied illegal immigrants, from ages 3 to 9, watch television inside a playpen at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas, on March 30, 2021. Dario Lopez-Mills/Pool/AP Photo

Some leaders across the country are taking preemptive action regarding overcrowded schools and local property tax hikes despite a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that determined that all children, regardless of legal status, are entitled to a free K–12 education.

When state legislatures reconvene next month, elected representatives will discuss laws that shift the costs of educating illegal immigrants to the federal government, require proof of U.S. citizenship for school choice voucher programs, or deny deeply discounted in-state college tuition rates to undocumented residents.