Tennessee could lose up to $1B in education funding under bill denying undocumented students

A Tennessee proposal that would challenge federal education rights for immigrant students is headed to the state Senate floor. The bill passed its final committee vote 7-4 on Tuesday with two Republicans dissenting.

The Senate version of the bill would require school districts to verify every student’s immigration status. For children without citizenship or a visa, schools could then choose whether to enroll them, deny them or charge their family tuition according to the state’s per-student funding model.

More: How TN Republicans could overturn a landmark SCOTUS immigration case

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixon, has said his legislation aims to address the financial burden of English learners in Tennessee classrooms. However, Democratic lawmakers and advocates for education rights have said that the majority of EL students in the state are U.S. citizens.

Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, said the bill will end up costing the state.

“We’re going to be creating an administrative regime that’s really complicated to run and really expensive to run,” Yarbro said. “Schools may look at these birth certificates, but they’re not doing citizenship analysis. They are not trained to do that. They’d now have to learn.”

Watson argued that since most school systems already request birth certificates to prove a student’s age when they’re first enrolled, any increase in spending would be “insignificant.”

The state-wide school vouchers program, which passed during a special legislative session in January, also guarantees that school districts will not lose funding when students unenroll, Watson said.

“If there is a loss of enrollment due to any reason … the base floor funding would continue to exist in that district,” Watson said. “It would not have a negative impact.”

“And conversely would not have any financial benefit for the state,” Yarbro said.

Watson responded, arguing that per-student funding would increase if school districts were funded at their current level with fewer students.

The bill’s potential impact on the state’s finances is still uncertain, according to a state fiscal review. Enforcement could potentially cost Tennessee up to $1.1 billion in federal education funding, as the law would put the state in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Some of those dollars may already be in jeopardy, as the Trump administration has cut funding for certain school nutrition programs, with plans for a possible dissolution of the U.S. Department of Education.

The legislation would also put Tennessee in opposition to Supreme Court precedent. Republican leadership has said the bill is intended as a legal challenge to the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case, Plyler v. Doe, which established the right to an education for all students, regardless of immigration status. If passed, the bill’s sponsors expect it to be challenged in the courts, something Democrats have said will cost taxpayers more in the long run.

Business groups have also decried the legislation. The Tennessee Small Business Alliance released a statement, arguing that the bill is bad for the state’s economy.

“Undocumented immigrant families already pay into Tennessee’s public schools through sales tax—just like everyone else. Tennessee immigrants contribute $4.4 billion in tax revenue every year, including over $900 million from undocumented families alone. Going after children to deny them an education when he knows it is already paid for by immigrants in our state isn’t just cruel — it’s unethical, fiscally irresponsible, and politically desperate,” the statement read.

The proposal has been met with spirited protests in the statehouse. At the start of the Senate Finance committee on Tuesday, Watson warned spectators not to make any outbursts or show “excessive emotion.”

As the measure passed, a few members of the crowd started singing “Jesus Loves the Little Children,” and lawmakers called for the room to be cleared. When four women did not leave, state troopers were called in to remove them.

Marianna Bacallao WPLN News

Troopers ask the remaining protesters to clear the Senate committee room.

One woman broke down crying, telling the troopers, “They’re just little kids. They’re not going to know how to read, they’re not going to know how to do that. They’re not going to have any friends.”

After 20 minutes, troopers ultimately cleared the committee room by carrying 80-year-old activist Lynne McFarland out of the building and into a trooper’s car.

State troopers at the TN statehouse just carried a woman out of a Senate committee for protesting a bill that would allow schools to refuse undocumented students, Troopers warned her that they would press charges if she didn’t leave.

— Marianna Bacallao (@mariannabac.bsky.social) 2025-04-01T14:38:26.480Z

Officers had warned McFarland that she would be charged if she remained.

Marianna Bacallao WPLN News

Activist Lynne McFarland is escorted out of Cordell Hull and arrested by state troopers for refusing to leave a Senate committee room on April 1, 2025.

The bill now heads to the Senate floor for a full vote.