Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1982 decision in Plyler v. Doe — which found that all children, regardless of immigration status, must have equal access to a free public education — has helped boost national economic growth, social mobility and public health, according to a new analysis by Fwd.us.
- At least 4.8 million children nationwide have benefited from Plyler’s public education protections since the decades-old ruling struck down a 1975 Texas law that allowed school districts to deny public school enrollment to undocumented students, said Fwd.us, a social welfare organization focused on criminal justice and immigration reform.
- If the Supreme Court reversed the 43-year-old ruling and thus excluded undocumented immigrant students from public schools, the Fwd.us report said, Plyler’s broad investments in economic, health and societal gains would be squandered, and the reversal would “wreak havoc on America’s economy, workforce, and public health.”
Dive Insight:
Plyler’s future is uncertain amid Trump administration scrutiny of federal immigration policies. Republican-led efforts introduced this year in several states have also sought to undermine undocumented children’s access to a free public education.
At least six states including Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Idaho, Indiana and New Jersey introduced related legislation or regulations this year. None of those proposals advanced.
The Heritage Foundation recommended in 2024 that states pass legislation requiring tuition for unaccompanied migrant children to attend public schools. That would then likely lead the Supreme Court to reconsider its Plyler decision if the legislation faces a lawsuit, the conservative thinktank said.
At the federal level, the Trump administration in July moved to restrict access to publicly funded education-related programs like Head Start as well as dual enrollment and career training programs on the basis of immigration status. Shortly after, 20 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration, saying that such restrictions will hurt low-income families and lead to the ”collapse of some of the nation’s most vital public programs.”
There are currently 1.8 million school-aged children benefitting from Plyler, Fwd.us said.
If undocumented children were denied access to a free public education as a result of Plyler’s reversal, Fwd.us said, the U.S. economy would shrink by over $1 trillion from the lifetime income losses of the ruling’s beneficiaries.
Additionally, the future workforce would lose over 450,000 workers in jobs requiring high school diplomas and another 300,000 workers in fields that typically require college degrees, the organization said.
Between 1982 and 2022, Plyler increased the income of undocumented immigrant children by $171 billion — boosting the GDP by $2.71 trillion across their lifetimes, Fwd.us found. The 1982 ruling also prevented an additional 730,000 U.S. citizen children whose parents benefited from Plyler from living in poverty.
A Plyler reversal would also drive up healthcare costs by $24.2 billion due to preventable conditions among adults without access to schools. The ruling improved public health outcomes such as obesity, lifetime disability, infant health, childhood influenza and mental health, lowering healthcare costs at least $28.9 billion since 1982, the report said.
Some of the state bills pushing back on Plyler this year would have required students who are not U.S. citizens or legal immigrants to pay tuition to attend public school, such as in New Jersey. Texas legislators also proposed requiring documentation of U.S. citizenship for children to enroll in public schools.
In Oklahoma, the state board of education approved in January an administrative rule that would require students to provide proof of legal citizenship or immigration status to enroll in a public school. However, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has said he would veto the measure, which needs a green light from the state legislature.
Meanwhile, Idaho lawmakers introduced a bill that would require all schools to keep records on students’ immigration status and nationality.
Even as the Plyler decision still stands, some school districts affected by increased federal immigration enforcement this year — such as Los Angeles Unified School District, Florida’s Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Chicago Public Schools — are reporting enrollment drops partly among their newcomer students. Newcomers are defined as students who have been attending any U.S. school for three years or fewer, were born outside the U.S., and are English learners.
