Immigrant Students Regardless of Documented Status - May 1997 Revision

Notice: This policy was reviewed, revised, and/or renamed. We provide this revision for historic purposes only. Please see our current policies and procedural directives.

This procedural directive was reviewed and revised in November 2010. We provide this revision for historic purposes only.

Neither the Constitution of the State of New Mexico nor New Mexico State law establishes citizenship as a requirement for school age children to attend public school in New Mexico. The United States Supreme Court has also ruled that citizenship status can not be used to deny public school admission to school age children.

Schools must not:

Deny admission to a school age child on the basis of known, or suspected, undocumented status.
Engage in any practice to deter or discourage the right of a student to attend public school.
Require students or parents to disclose or document their immigration status or make inquiries that would expose their undocumented status.
Require Social Security numbers.

Cross Ref.:

U.S. Supreme Court Plyler vs. Doe
State of New Mexico Constitution, Article XII, Section 1
22-1-4 NMSA 1978
Board Policy J.02, J.03

NSBA/NEPN Classification: JE

Created: May 1997

This procedural directive was reviewed and revised in November 2010. We provide this revision for historic purposes only.