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Culpeper School Board cannot legally divulge what children are illegal immigrants Date published: 2/27/2007
by donnie johnston The Culpeper County School Board had a clear response to a request from the Culpeper Town Council to provide cost estimates for services rendered to illegal immigrants. The answer was, essentially, it's illegal to ask for that information from students, and the division likely wouldn't ask if it could. "I think we have to stop talking about children born here or brought here by their parents as being illegal persons, or lawbreakers," said board member Bob Beard. And the usually soft-spoken George Dasher snapped, "I'm really bothered by this letter!" Division Superintendent David Cox advised the board that both federal and state law (plus a Virginia attorney general's opinion) make it clear that asking students about their immigration status is a no-no. He cited a 1982 United States Supreme Court decision that declared that a Texas statute prohibiting school districts from admitting the children of illegal immigrants was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment. "That was a landmark case that has not been overturned," Cox said. The superintendent said that the only statistic he felt the board could furnish was a chart showing the number of English as a Second Language students that were enrolled. Dasher argued that it was a mistake to "attach this form to this letter" because of how the ESL numbers might be interpreted. "Will someone conclude that these children are illegal because of their lack of English proficiency?" he asked. "People like to connect dots and these dots cannot be connected." And Leanne Jenkins said that the ESL numbers should be sent "with a very large disclaimer." Statistics show that there are currently 420 students enrolled in Culpeper County ESL programs, up from five in 1993. Cox was quick to point out, however, that those students represent native speakers of 17 different languages, not just Spanish, to which the town probe is aimed. "I see these figures more as a show of growth," said Jennifer McCauley. Town Councilman Steve Jenkins, who has been at the heart of the illegal immigrant controversy since taking office last July, was present at last night's meeting but made no comment. "The bottom line is that we have no illegal children," Cox said. Donnie Johnston:
I lean to the liberal side, and I am definitely against supporting ILLEGAL immigrants. Lets look at the key word in there: illegal, as in against the law. It is a slippery slope downhill when we can pick and choose which laws to obey and not be punished for it. There is a problem when someone can't even ask if you're acting within the law. Bank of America is the same way, and even in Stafford have said they won't ask if you're legal, and in some ares don't require a social. I closed my acounts in protest
I figured it out!! All we have to do is get George W. Bush to support ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, and the Left will then see it as "bad" because Bush likes it, and they will bring it to a stop. It would be interesting to see just how much ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION actually costs us on an individual basis. I bet that chunk of change would buy a whole lot of Kool-Aid!!
Lefty-nothing is free. These illegals are stealing, plain and simple and their education is NOT the responsibility of the US or local government. They're NOT entitled to this education. Why stop there though. How about a free college education for everyone? Who's going to pay for that? How about "free" unlimited health care? Who pays for that? MOST immigrants to the US obeyed the law and were legal. This is not a phobia, it's about obeying the law.
If we don't provide educational opportunities for all children, who will ultimately pay the price? We all will. I am amazed at all the phobia created about immigration when almost all of the rest of us are decendents of immigrants, some legal, but a lot were not. I support the actions of the Culpeper County School Board as does a majority of our community. By the way, why hasn't this discussion come up in Culpeper's neighboring localities? Perhaps ther is not as much of a prejudical attitude there.
The Culpeper school board is cowardly hiding behind the '82 ruling. The 14th amend. clearly was intended to apply to citizens of this country. In the 1800s the SCOTUS also said slavery was legal. The '82 ruling here is vacuous. If Culpeper is unable to tax the illegals attending the schools, the legal residents of Culpeper should demand that out of justice/fairness they not pay taxes either to support the public schools there. Even the homeschoolers must pay taxes to suppor the public schools.
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