Bill seeks details on non-U.S. students’ in Oklahoma schools

A measure requiring school districts to report to the state the number of students who are illegal immigrants and how much it’s costing to educate them was passed by a House committee Wednesday.

Rep. Randy Terrill, author of House Bill 3384, said the bill also would require school districts to certify whether the education of students who are illegal immigrants is having an adverse effect on the instruction of students who are not illegal immigrants.

The House Appropriations and Budget Committee approved the measure 16-0. It now goes to the full House.

Terrill, author of House Bill 1804, the anti-illegal immigration legislation that passed in 2007, said HB 3384 does not target any specific group of illegal immigrants. School districts would provide the data in three categories — students who are legal immigrants, students who are illegal immigrants and students who are U.S. citizens.

The task shouldn’t be costly for schools, he said.

"School districts already track a number of things related to race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, sex of children,” he said. "The fact that we’re simply adding one more identifier ... is really not asking too much of them. The truth of the matter is that some of them keep track of that now.”

Terrill, R-Moore, said a national group, Federation for American Immigration Reform, estimated in 2006 that Oklahoma was spending $160 million a year educating students who are in this country illegally.