Protesters responded to the Senate passage of the 1982 bill challenging the US Supreme Court, finding that children in countries without permanent legal status have the right to public education. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

The Tennessee Senate voted 19-13 on Thursday in favor of a law that requires immigration or citizenship documents from more than 900,000 students attending state public schools.

Senate Bill 836 Sen. Bo Watson, a Republican Hixon, gave Tennessee’s Public Charter and K-12 schools except that they would either prohibit students who could not prove to be legal residents or charge thousands of dollars in tuition.

If it is finally enacted, Tennessee will become the only state to deny students without legal status the right to public schooling, posing certain legal challenges.

Texas, Indiana, Idaho and Ohio are considering similar school exclusion policies, but Tennessee is the only state where the bill is actively moving through Congress, according to the National Center for Immigration Law.

The Center issued a statement after the Senate vote calling the action a “shady attempt to deprive Tennessee of children of their own.” The public interest law firm is “ready to defend the right to education along with our partners in court,” the statement said.

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Among the most controversial bills in Congress this year, the bill is not strong, but unanimous, from public protests that have disrupted legislative hearings from the vast majority of Republicans in Tennessee, Democrats.

Thursday’s debate opposed the bill’s emotional appeal of Christian faith by both Democrats and Republicans. In the end, seven Republicans joined Senate Democrats and voted “no.”

Republican Senate President Gallatin cited the Biblical prophet Ezekial.

“We believe we are punishing our children for their parents’ misconduct. I don’t think that’s the right way (this),” Hale said, explaining his decision to vote for the bill.

“We need to address the problem itself, rather than using the kids as pawns for this,” he said.

Hale suggested that the state check the number of children in Tennessee’s public schools without legal immigration status and use that data to file a lawsuit against the federal government seeking a refund for education.

Sen. Charlen Oliver, a Nashville Democrat, told lawmakers “heavy heart” against the bill, asking Watson what he thought he would be a child and denied his right to attend school.

Hamilton County principals oppose the bill calling for immigration status checks for school children.

He said immigrant children who are banned from Tennessee public schools have other options.

“The bill does not ban private schools, it does not ban homeschooling,” Watson said that families can also freely pay tuition to attend public schools if children are excluded due to immigration circumstances.

Watson also suggested moving forward to help nonprofits pay students’ tuition fees. This will be set in a school district equivalent to billing students attending public schools outside of their residence county.

Watson did not rule out in previous legislative hearings that the law could create rules and regulations that would report schools to federal immigration enforcement authorities what they had learned about student immigration status.

The bill has yet to settle with the home counterparts, providing options rather than duties to public school districts and charter schools to check student immigration status, filter out children, and charge tuition fees.

The House bill, William Lamberth, a Republican from Portland, will be heard again at the Legislative Committee next week before it can move on to the floor vote.

Both Lamberth and Watson say they are pushing for policy proposals to raise the costs of English teaching in state public schools.

Currently, there is no available data on how many children under the order have and who are not.

Republican supporters in Congress were Plylerv in 1982. He says he hopes to be challenged in court to review the DOE’s decision and ultimately reach the Supreme Court.