Reports that many schools across the United States intended to start screening students for immigration status drove the US Department of Education to send letters to districts across the country reminding them that federal law prohibits refusing enrollment to students based on immigration status.

In 1975, Texas passed the Alien Children Education Act that denied state funds for the education of children present in the United States without authorization and empowered local school districts to refuse to enroll the children.  In 1977 a group of Mexican children who could not prove their immigration status and who were refused enrollment in the Tyler School District sued the district.  The children claimed that the Alien Children Education Act violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

The US Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in Plyler v. Doe holding that the right to education, while not a fundamental right, was sufficiently important to warrant intermediate scrutiny and that none of the state's justifications for the law were sufficient to justify treating illegal children differently than those legally inside of the United States.  In short, the Supreme Court held that the equal protection clause prohibited any state from denying K-12 public education to any child based on his immigration status.

Just as children illegally present in the United States have a right to a public school education, they also have a constitutionally protected right to special education services, as needed, as part of a "free and appropriate public education."  If your child is struggling in school, has speech, behavior, or comprehension difficulties, visit our discussion of special education for more information.