Legal Issues for School Districts Related to the Education of Undocumented Children

This booklet discusses 13 legal questions commonly asked by school board members and school administrators related to undocumented students. Unfortunately, few of the questions have definitive answers. Plyler directly addressed only the narrow question of whether undocumented children are entitled to receive a free public school education. Plyler is the sole U.S. Supreme Court case dealing with the rights of undocumented children in public schools. Moreover, lower court cases and state laws rarely address the questions raised in this booklet. However, this booklet provides tentative answers that are designed to help school districts minimize their legal risks in light of current law. It assumes that both courts and potential litigants would accept Plyler as the principle precedent in this area and would read it to include its logical implication that school districts should not deter undocumented children from exercising their right to a public education. It assumes this for two main reasons: First, the Plyler decision itself is broadly protective of the rights of undocumented children to receive a K-12 education. Second, in most instances, making decisions based on an expansive rather than a restrictive interpretation of Plyler would less likely result in legal challenges

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