Educating the "other" children - education of illegal immigrants may be necessary

American Demographics, Oct, 1997 by Berna Miller

NONFISCAL IMPACTS

Educating the children of illegal immigrants costs money. But not educating them could cost even more. In 1982's Plyler v. Doe, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (5-4) that a 1975 Texas law denying public-school education to children of illegal aliens violated the 14th Amendment's equal-protection clause. The majority opinion states that laws apply to all people within a jurisdiction, whether they are citizens, visitors, or illegal residents. The court also argued that denying education would harm both the children and American society. "Illiteracy is an enduring disability. The inability to read and write will handicap the individual deprived of a basic education each and every day of his life.... In determining the rationality of [the statute], we may appropriately take into account its costs to the nation and to the innocent children," states the majority opinion.

Aside from constitutional and moral issues, not educating immigrant children incurs three major sets of costs. First, police and other justice officials fear that children with no education, no job prospects, and no place to go will turn to gangs and violence as an alternative. "This would lead to more juvenile delinquency and crime, and more youth activity in the underground economy," says Donald Huddle of Rice University. Mandatory formal education has long served as a check on juvenile criminal behavior.

Second, California and other states may just need those immigrant children as workers somewhere down the line. Steve Levy of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy argues that "immigrants make up too high a percentage of the state's children to ignore them." The education of these children is important because California is already facing a shortage of highly skilled workers. "The California economy of the 21st century won't work without the education of immigrant children," says Levy. "All the private-sector leaders agree, even if they are too chicken to say it."

The third issue is wages and taxes. Better-educated people get better jobs and command better wages. The more money people earn, the more self-sufficient they are, and the more they pay in taxes. Ultimately, they more than make up for the school and other tax dollars spent on them. The cycle is self-perpetuating, too. Children with educated parents get more education themselves.

EDUCATIONAL EFFECTS

Critics worry that illegal immigrant children have a negative effect on the educational process itself. Many parents of native-born children contend that the presence of illegal immigrants has led to a decline in the quality of education their own children receive. It has, according to Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies. "There are clearly negative consequences for public schools in areas with large concentrations of illegal immigrants," says Camarota. "Illegal immigrants are aggravating an already overburdened public-school system in urban districts where they are concentrated."

The presence of non-English-speaking immigrants, both legal and illegal, changes the types of programs and services that schools need to provide. For example, California is home to about 12 percent of the nation's public school students in grades K-12, but it is home to 46 percent of the nation's 2.8 million Limited-English Proficient (LEP) students.