A Tennessee bill that would require public schools to verify the citizenship status of students and give districts the option to charge unauthorized immigrants tuition has narrowly cleared its first legislative hurdle.
Senate bill 836, which was amended Wednesday, would require Tennessee school districts to collect documentation during enrollment proving students are U.S. citizens, in the process of obtaining citizenship or holding a legal immigration or visa status.
If students cannot provide that documentation, the school district or charter school could choose to charge such students tuition and remove them from school if they do not pay.
“This is not about denying education to those students,” said the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Bo Watson, R-North Chattanooga.
The bill leaves the decision on whether to charge tuition to the local level, so if the bill became law, the implementation could vary across the state.