A proposed bill that would've required schools that receive state funding to gather students immigration status and make that information publicly available failed in the House Education Committee on Friday.
Rep. Steve Tanner (R-Nampa) sponsored the measure. The proposal would require the data to be aggregated by schools and districts and made public.
“It also defines five ways to think about immigration status for our schools: citizens, permanent residents and non-immigrants, undocumented immigrants and refugees,” he explained.
When asked how the schools could report and share the private information of Idaho’s roughly 400,000 students at a low cost. Tanner said a billboard could be an option, and he was open to suggestions.
Committee members expressed concerns over the constitutionality of the text.
“I have a real problem with it,” said Rep. Lance Clow (R-Twin Falls). “I just hope we don't end up putting yellow stars on a group of people.”
Citing Biden’s immigration policies, Tanner said the proposal would help quantify schools’ needs.
Rep. Chris Mathias (D-Boise) said he was concerned the measure would open up the state to lawsuits.
“When we single out a population like this, we need to demonstrate a compelling state interest,” he said. “We need to be able to say ‘we need this information to do something very important.’ And I don't know if we've heard what that very important thing is.”
“This smells like undue discrimination and it will get us all in trouble,” he added.
A motion to send the proposal back for rewrites failed after a split vote. A second motion to send the measure to committee also tied, killing the proposed bill.
