Fort Worth schools chief pushes back on Gov. Abbott’s comments on undocumented students
Fort Worth’s school superintendent is pushing back against comments Gov. Greg Abbott made last week suggesting Texas could relitigate the requirement that the state provide a public education to undocumented students.
In a radio interview May 4, Abbott said the state could try to revive a decades-old policy that prevented state taxpayer dollars from being used to fund the educations of students who were not in the country legally. The policy was struck down in the landmark 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe.
“As an educator, I don’t understand the rationale for this position,” said Kent Scribner, superintendent of the Fort Worth school district. “The U.S. Constitution requires that all kids be given an equal educational opportunity. The Texas Constitution states that education is essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people — not some people, but all the people.”
Abbott: Expense of educating undocumented kids is ‘extraordinary’
The Plyler decision requires states to provide a free public education to all children, regardless of immigration status. Abbott said he hopes to revisit that case. He argued the era in which that decision was handed down was a time when immigration into Texas was different than it is today, and that the expenses of educating undocumented students have grown “extraordinary.”
The following day, Abbott expanded on his comments, arguing that the federal government should pay to educate undocumented students in Texas public schools, or else allow states to enforce their own immigration policies.
Neither the Texas Education Agency nor the Fort Worth school district keeps track of students’ immigration statuses, so it’s unclear exactly what the expense of educating undocumented students is, either locally or statewide.
The district follows the law, Scribner said. And if the law were to change, the district would follow the new law, he said. But all children deserve the right to pursue an education and fulfill their God-given potential, he said.
From an economic standpoint, it makes little sense to exclude undocumented students from the public school system, Scribner said. Education and the economy are inextricably linked, he said. Denying those students access to the public school system also means denying them opportunities for social and economic advancement, he said, and doing so based on a decision they didn’t make for themselves.
“To emigrate is an adult decision,” he said. “So why punish the children?”
White House denounces Abbott’s comments
In a press briefing the day after Abbott made his comments, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki described Abbott’s position as “way out of the mainstream.”
“We’re talking about — I think, just to restate that — denying public education to kids, including immigrants to this country,” she said. “I mean, that is not a mainstream point of view.”
This isn’t the first time Scribner has weighed in on how immigration policy affects the district. In 2017, when Trump Administration officials announced plans to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Scribner wrote in a Facebook post the move would be “devastating” for students in the district.
“Current high school seniors who have college within reach could be forced to alter their post-secondary plans,” he wrote. “Our graduates currently in college may not be able to successfully move their lives forward. The impact this decision will have on many students and their families in the Fort Worth ISD community will be far-reaching.”
The same year, the district’s Board of Trustees approved a resolution declaring the district “welcoming and safe” for all students, regardless of immigration status. Scribner, who is scheduled to retire from his post at the end of the current school year, said he would recommend the district continue with that policy as far as the law allows.
This story was originally published May 13, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
CORRECTION: This story has been clarified to add comments Abbott later made suggesting the federal government should pay to educate undocumented students.
