Illegal Immigration as a School Matter

The issue of illegal immigration continues to be an important one for most Americans even if Congress and the President seem unwilling to move forward to create a bipartisan solution to the issue. While the anger mounts among many Republicans and Democrats alike, it is interesting to see just some of the impact of illegal immigration as it pertains to America’s schools.

According to a FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform) “Breaking the Piggy Bank” report:

The calculation of the number of children of illegal aliens in the K-12 public school system indicates that more than 15 percent of California’s students are children of illegal aliens, as are more than ten percent of the students in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, and Texas. More than five percent of the students are the children of illegal aliens in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, and Washington.

And as for the costs:

The total K-12 school expenditure for illegal immigrants costs the states nearly $12 billion annually, and when the children born here to illegal aliens are added, the costs more than double to $28.6 billion.

And a 2003 FAIR report, “No Room to Learn: Immigration and School Overcrowding,” provides estimates that immigration in total will account for 96 percent of the increase in the school-age population in the United States over the next 50 years with as much as 50% of that growth due to illegal aliens.

Tomorrow: The tale of School Superintendent David Verducci and his attempt to tackle the problem in New Jersey.