Legislation requiring Tennessee public schools to check students’ immigration status will continue to draw Republican opposition when it heads back to the Senate for consideration.
Even though the measure is watered down considerably from 2025’s bill, which would have allowed schools to deny education to children without full legal documentation, GOP Sen. Page Walley of Savannah told the Tennessee Lookout he will not support Senate Bill 836/House Bill 73 in part because of the extra work it would put on school personnel.
The measure, which is part of a White House-backed package of immigration bills, must return to the Senate for another vote because it was amended in the House.
“I maintain a position that I am very dubious of anything that puts additional immigration burden on our K-12 schools when they are marginally funded in many cases to do the work they are doing now,” Walley said.
The Senate passed the bill in 2025 on a 19-13 vote, with seven Republicans, including Walley, voting against it. At that point, the legislation sponsored by Sen. Bo Watson of North Chattanooga could have made it more difficult for children without permanent legal documentation to enroll in public schools. It was designed to challenge a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Plyler v. Doe, which required schools to enroll students regardless of immigration status.