Here’s what you need to know about how a Supreme Court decision to end or limit birthright citizenship could change the educational landscape.
Public schools cannot reject students because of their immigration status
All children, regardless of immigration status, are entitled to a free K-12 public education in the United States. This right was upheld in a landmark 1982 Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe.
The case centered on whether Texas could bar the use of state funding to educate children who live in the U.S. illegally. Also at issue was whether a public school district could charge foreign-born students to enroll. Immigrant students sued and won.
c Plyler Cervantes says, “It was recognized by the justices that denying children a K-12 education, a basic education, would create a permanent underclass in our society.”
Because of this ruling, school districts do not have to collect immigration data on their students or their families. But immigrant advocates worry about it Plyler became a political target.
“The Conservative movement has made it very clear that it intends to flip Plyler v. Doe even providing a handbook to state legislatures to help make that happen,” says Alejandra Vazquez Baur, co-founder and director of the National Newcomer Network, which advocates for recently arrived immigrant students.
The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, which has shaped much of the Trump administration’s agenda, recently asked states to limit public education for undocumented students and has recommends that states challenge directly on Plyler decision, arguing that it cost states hundreds of millions of dollars in education costs in 2023 alone.
“States have a compelling interest in preserving limited taxpayer dollars by prioritizing US citizens and legal immigrants.” wrote Laura Rice from Legacy.
Tennessee lawmakers are among those taking action: There are bills currently moving through the state legislature that propose tracking the legal status of K-12 students and allowing public schools to refuse to enroll undocumented students. Several other states have also proposed legislation that directly or indirectly threatens Plyler.
If any of these proposals become law, they could spark legal challenges and ultimately reopen the question of whether children of immigrants have a right to a public education.
The right to education does not mean that families feel safe sending their children to school
Immigration enforcement efforts can have an impact school attendance.
MPR News reported that following an increased federal immigration presence in Minnesota earlier this year, some areas there is a 20-40% increase in absenteeism. And this trend predates the Trump administration: Researchers at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank based at Stanford University, found that after immigration raids in January 2025, school districts in California’s Central Valley there was a 22% increase in absenteeism.
Vasquez Baur says these findings show that the constitutional right of immigrant children to attend K-12 public schools is already under threat.
“The law is still the law, children can still go to school. We know now that it’s complicated at this point by immigration measures around schools,” she says. “The issue of birthright citizenship complicates this further.”
Sophia Rodriguez, a professor of education policy at New York University, studies the impact of immigration enforcement on school attendance. She says she has heard reports of “constant fear, anxiety and stress” from immigrant families concerned about sending their children to school. “And when you add that potential end to birthright citizenship, you create a larger number of communities that live in fear and anxiety,” she says.
Some studies show that historically, when there is an increase in local immigration enforcement, fewer Hispanic students enroll in nearby schoolswhich can hinder their education and affect the school’s funding. In most states, public school districts receive funding based on daily student attendance and total enrollment.
This comes as many school districts are are already facing declining enrollment.
Students with disabilities can fall through the cracks
For many children, schools are the first point of contact with community services such as nutrition programs, health care, language training and counseling. This is especially true for immigrant families, says Rodriguez of New York University. “(Schools) are often the only social institution or community institution that immigrant families have access to.”
They are also often the first place where children’s disabilities are identified and where these students can access the services they need to be successful. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the central special education law that guarantees everyone children with disabilities have the right to a “free appropriate public education”.
“So these are things that don’t go away or change based on immigration status,” says Anne Dwyer, a professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. “But if a community experiences immigration enforcement or the fear of enforcement at such a level that parents don’t even feel comfortable bringing their children to school, then those children will automatically not have access to those same supports that schools provide.”
Schools also rely on state and federal Medicaid dollars to pay for services such as physical, speech and occupational therapy. The program covers about half of all students with special education plans according to KFF analysisnonpartisan health policy research organization. Medicaid funding too constitutes a significant part of Public School Budgets: US Department of Education reported in 2024 that Medicaid sends schools between $4 billion and $6 billion annually.
“Even if the school can’t potentially provide a particular type of service, it’s likely to be a conduit for those resources,” Rodriguez says.
However, Medicaid is generally limited to US citizens and people with other qualified legal statuses. If birthright citizenship is eliminated, US-born children who previously would have been citizens may no longer be eligible for Medicaid. For each of those children who have disabilities, schools will still be legally required to serve them under IDEA, but they will have to find a way to replace lost Medicaid funding.
“It would create potentially huge cost shifts to the districts,” Dwyer says. “And we know that school districts are already incredibly constrained.”
Paying for higher education will become much more difficult
Although the law currently provides for K-12 education for all students, the same does not apply to higher education. Students without legal status can still enroll in college, but they do not have access to federal financial aid, such as federal student loans and the Pell Grant, which helps low-income students and is is currently facing a funding shortfall.
And because of their status, undocumented students are more likely to come from poor backgrounds, says Caitlin Patler, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. “These two things together make getting a college education nearly impossible for undocumented kids.”
In some states, including Georgia and Alabama, undocumented students are not allowed to attend certain public colleges; other states charge them for out-of-state tuition.
Patler says research shows that U.S. citizenship is directly related to opportunities that increase a child’s educational achievement. “And therefore much later, as you follow children throughout their lives, educational attainment is directly related to stronger economic contributions.”
She worries about a future in which birthright citizenship is narrowed or abolished. “This would have a cascading ripple effect, potentially over multiple generations, forcing this large and growing group of millions of children into caste status.”
A caste-like status, she says, in which their opportunities will be dictated not by their potential but by their immigration status.
