UPDATE: HB 744 will be heard again! Take Action

Via Facebook, by Latin American Coalition

House Bill 744: "Safe Students Act"http://ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/House/HTML/H744v1.html

House Bill 744 the "Safe Students Act" is a mean-spirited bill that would require school principals to ask parents to "state whether the child is a citizen or a national of the United States, and if the child is not, the immigration status of the child." According to the bill, the information collected "shall be used only for fiscal analysis and shall not be used to deny admission to a child who is a domiciliary of the local school administrative unit."

SIGN THE PETITION! http://bit.ly/jcv1up

UPDATE:

Last Tuesday, May 31st, the Education Committee heard HB 744, however no votes were taken. This bill will be heard once again and a vote will most likely take place on Tuesday, June 7th at 10AM in 643 Legislative Office Building. Anyone can provide public comment on the bill and we are requesting that educators come forward on Tuesday and speak in opposition to this mean bill.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS BILL?

• This bill is mean-spirited and potentially unconstitutional. In 1982, the Supreme Court ruled in Plyler v. Doe that a state may not deny access to a basic public education to any child, whether that child is present in the country legally or not. While HB 744 states that the information collected will be not be used to deny admission to a child, it creates an antagonistic  and intimidating environment that has the possibility of excluding certain students.
• If this bill were to become law, it would place an unjust burden on School Principals by turning them in quasi-Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents by requiring them to ask parents for their child's nationality and immigration status. This would erode at trust of school administration.
• This bill would have a potential to be abused, even by well-meaning principals who're simply doing their job. Unless there's also training accompanied with this bill, there's a possibility that school principals would only ask brown parents for their children's nationality and immigration status, thus racial profile parents and children.
• There is no further indication what kind of fiscal analysis the information would be used for, thus leaving room for interpreting this bill as a first step towards eventually seeking to challenge Plyler v. Doe.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

If you oppose this bill as we do, we ask that you do any/all of the following:

• Speak up and oppose this bill by contacting the people who could stop this bill from moving, including the Speaker of the House, Thom Tillis of Mecklenburg and the members of the Education Committee (contact info below)
• Tell others about this nasty bill and help create awareness of what some legislators are seeking to pass, which would hurt children and our communities
• Contact an educator and/or school administrator and ask that they speak up and oppose this bill.

Suggested Talking Point: Please oppose the ill-prioritized and mean-spirited House Bill 744, the Safe Students Act which will make ICE agents out of school principals and erode at the trust between school administration and families.

WHO TO CONTACT?

This bill will be heard on Tuesday, June 7th at 10AM in the Education Committee. Make sure you reach out to the Speaker of the House, Thom Tillis as well as the two Education Committee Chairmen, Rep. Holloway and Rep. Langdon in addition to your local member.

Please sign the petition which takes 2 minutes and contacts members of the education committee all at once. http://bit.ly/jcv1up