The United States has always been a country of immigrants. Therefore, there have been concerns about the arrival of immigrants to America and legislative action to address these concerns throughout the country’s history. One issue that I think everyone can agree on is that they should pay taxes and pay any fines incurred by being illegal immigrants.
With many undocumented illegals already in the country, the problem is ready to be addressed with congressional action. Milton Friedman once said, “It’s just obvious you can’t have free immigration and a welfare state.”
While illegal immigration causes issues in many ways, the most concerning to me is the toll it has taken on our public school system. Public schools are actually told not to ask for proof of citizenship from the students or to reject them. The Department of Education states that all students – legal or not – are entitled to a public education.
The biggest problem with the dramatic increase in illegal immigrants in public schools is that it is not financially sustainable. With more students than schools can contend with but not enough revenue to cover the costs, it is no wonder schools across our nation are in financial trouble and are cutting education funding.
Teachers are being laid off or seeing their benefits cut, new learning equipment is being delayed, textbooks aren’t being bought, and so forth. Reports from the Department of Education say that in 2004, the state of Virginia alone spent nearly $52.9 million on education for illegal immigrants.
The estimated costs of educating illegal aliens and their children exceeded $28.6 billion in 2004 for the entirety of the United States. The cost has continued to rise since then.
As a tax-paying citizen with a child in school, it offends me to know that while I am paying taxes that provide for my child’s education, the schools cannot afford many important resources and fill their needs for more teachers because of lack of revenue.
It seems to me that this money would be better spent compensating teachers, purchasing computers and paying for other educational programs such as afterschool care. Why are the children of undocumented illegals entitled to a free education when our schools clearly need financial help?
As a current education major myself, I along with many of my classmates fear whether we will get a job after all of this. Of course, it isn’t just education majors with this fear; the American economy is suffering in many areas. One area that should never suffer is our children’s education.
While there is no quick-fix plan, steps need to be taken to ensure our schools can afford necessary resources and be able to hire and keep quality teachers.
To pretend there aren’t options and continue down our current path is foolish. It is easy to be mindless about situations like this affecting our country, but ask yourself, “Does my child deserve the best? Don’t our children’s educators deserve the best?”
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