Panel cans Oklahoma education rules dealing with immigration status and naturalization tests

OKLAHOMA CITY – A bipartisan Senate panel on Wednesday voted to toss out two rules backed by State Superintendent Ryan Walters that dealt with monitoring student immigration status and that would require teachers to take the U.S. Naturalization Test.

Senate Joint Resolution 22, authored by Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, approved many of the rules, but rejected two of the most controversial.

One disapproved rule would require students to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when enrolling in public school. Under the rule, schools would have to report to the state the number of students who couldn’t verify legal residency or citizenship.

Walters has said the rule would help serve immigrant students by better accounting for the resources needed to accommodate them, but he has also said he would turn over the information collected to federal authorities if asked.

The proposed rule has faced bipartisan opposition, including from Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that every child, regardless of immigration status, has a right to public education.

Sen. Michael Brooks, D-Oklahoma City, said the proposed rule is unconstitutional.

“In addition to that, I’m concerned about the families that would be intimidated and perhaps would choose not to enroll their kids in school based on these requirements,” he said.

Brooks, who is a member of the Senate Rules Committee, said the state does not win when children are discouraged from going to school.

A second rule rejected by the Senate panel on Wednesday would require all public school teachers to pass the U.S. Naturalization test to earn or renew their certification. That rule has faced bipartisan opposition amid fears that it would deter qualified teachers from working in the state.

“It seems to me more political than policy based,” Brooks said. “It seems like something to be able to get a headline, but it doesn’t seem like something that necessarily helps with curriculum or anything else.”

Bergstrom, the resolution’s author, chairs the Senate Rules Committee.

“Over the last few years, we’ve been building a consensus of just how important it is for the Legislature to actually take on the job that we’re tasked with and to reign in agencies that are doing things they shouldn’t be doing or when there are errors made that need to be fixed,” Bergstrom said after the committee hearing.

Administrative rules are supposed to build upon the laws legislators create.

Because they have the force of law, all rules must be submitted to the Legislature for review. If lawmakers take no action, they go to the governor. If the governor does not act, they automatically take effect.

The governor pledged to block the immigration rule.

Bergstrom said there was probably no legislative authority for the Oklahoma State Department of Education to craft rules pertaining to citizenship checks and naturalization testing.

The measure goes to the full Senate, where Bergstrom said it could be heard as early as next week.

If SJR 22 is approved, the measure goes to the House for consideration.

The State Department of Education didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment as of publication.

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