Immigration Status and Access to K–12 Education (810A)
Policy Client: National Immigration Law Center (NILC)
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
In this class, we will conduct legal research to assist a national nonprofit organization, working with lawyers in that organization to:
- develop a complete understanding of existing state statutory and constitutional guarantees of access to K–12 education for immigrant residents;
- design and create a site where this information can be stored, accessed, and revised electronically; and
- draft model state legislation protective of such educational access.
Elements used in grading: Performance, written assignments.
CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete and submit a Consent Application Form available at SLS Registrar https://registrar.law.stanford.edu/.
Summary of Work Product
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982), over forty years ago, state officials have known that states are required by the federal constitution to provide K–12 educational access to all children in their state, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status. But the federal constitution is not the only source of rights protection for immigrant children in public schools. In this policy practicum, students completed a 50-state survey intended to provide a full picture of the laws governing education access throughout the United States. Students in the practicum identified state-level protections (constitutional and statutory) for education access, as well as ongoing efforts at the state and local levels that could strengthen such access. This research was distilled into a 50-page report that was shared, along with the underlying research, with the lawyers of the National Immigration Law Center.