New York Compels 20 School Districts to Lower Barriers to Illegals

The New York Times reports:

Twenty New York school districts found to be blocking access for undocumented immigrant children will be forced to modify their enrollment policies to break down illegal barriers to education, the state attorney general’s office said on Wednesday.

A joint review by the State Education Department and the attorney general’s office found a broad pattern of intransigence on the part of districts that, despite repeated instructions from federal and state law enforcement agencies, continued to bar children based on their immigration status, said Kristen Clarke, the chief of the Civil Rights Bureau in the attorney general’s office.

The resulting reforms, under agreements between Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and the 20 districts, would compel them to stop asking for documents such as Social Security cards that effectively exclude undocumented children from school.

The state compliance review followed an article in The New York Times in October, which found that several suburban districts had contravened federal guidance by requiring immigrant families to provide proof of district residency before their children were enrolled. Families were stymied by school bureaucracies, and children, who are required by law to attend school, could not.

The state, which initially focused on four counties near New York City, expanded its inquiry after immigration advocates reported that other districts were asking about children’s immigration status before allowing them to enroll. The challenges were especially acute in suburban areas where unaccompanied immigrant children have recently arrived. From October 2013 through the end of last year, New York received about 6,500 unaccompanied immigrant minors, the third highest in the country behind Texas and California.

Who can blame a public school district for not wanting their school system destroyed? We suggest everyone concerned about illegals read this article. We suspect the Democrat party isn't going to win the "hearts and minds" of suburban voters by having illegals destroy their public schools like they have in California.