At the meeting of the Washington State Board of Education, September 13, 2017, the following resolution was proposed and approved unanimously:
WHEREAS, Washington State’s Constitution states that it is the “paramount duty of the state to educate all children residing within its borders…”, and,
WHEREAS, under the U.S. Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982), all children have an equivalent right to attend public primary and secondary schools regardless of their immigration status, and
WHEREAS, the State of Washington has benefitted enormously from the contributions of immigrants, including those who are considered “undocumented” (or, “document challenged”), and,
WHEREAS, it is widely understood that Washington’s world class agricultural system is chief among industries in the state that are dependent on or have benefitted from the hard work of immigrants, both documented and undocumented; and,
WHEREAS, in 2009, the President signed an executive order referred to as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) which enables certain children of undocumented immigrants to live and work in the United States without fear of deportation, and,
WHEREAS, the current Presidential administration has declared that the DACA program will expire in about March of 2018 unless Congress takes action to retain DACA or some program to protect DACA recipients, and,
WHEREAS, any action to prevent DACA recipients from living and working in the United States would be harmful to them individually, and harmful to our nation as a whole,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
The Washington State Board of Education encourages the United States Congress to approve legislation to reinstate DACA, or another program, that not only would allow DACA recipients to live and work in the United States without fear of deportation, but also would provide a path for them to become United States citizens;
FURTHER, the Washington State Board of Education encourages all school districts to continue to serve undocumented students in good faith and without regard to legal status, in fulfillment of Washington State’s constitutional guarantee and consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Plyer decision.