Los Angeles Public Schools Open for Child Migrants

By Julianne Hing Aug 14, 2014

Fall semester for Los Angeles Unified School District students began this week, and the school district is opening its doors to some new enrollees. The district is planning for 1,000 new unaccompanied minor children to enroll in its schools, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy told the Los Angeles Times.

The district isn’t rolling out the welcome mat out of mere kindness. It’s also the law. Under a 1982 Supreme Court ruling in Plyler v. Doe, school districts may not deny a child access to public education based on their immigration status. 

While the unaccompanied minors crisis exploded this year, the district has already been experiencing increased demand for services for immigrant children. The Los Angeles Times’ Howard Blume reports:

During the 2013-14 school year, the immigrant enrollment center handled 1,800 students, an increase of 400 from the previous year. In the latter months, 80% were "children who crossed the border unaccompanied," one just 7 years old, according to an internal district analysis.

The numbers from the center don’t provide a full count because schools typically enroll new students on their own.

The impact, however, is probably reflected in the figures for Spanish-speaking students who are not fluent in English. Their numbers had been declining in L.A. Unified, but increased last year from 142,457 to 146,794, even as overall enrollment dropped.

Read the rest at Los Angeles Times.