An Oklahoma school superintendent has sued the Biden administration for as much as $474 million over the cost of educating illegal immigrant students.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters filed the lawsuit Tuesday seeking compensation for the “severe financial and operational strain” the administration’s border policy placed on Oklahoma’s public schools.
About 3,000 unaccompanied migrant children were sent to the Sooner State between 2021 and 2023, according to the documents.
The lawsuit stated that educating these children “imposes a significant financial burden on the state of Oklahoma.”
Financial data reported by the Oklahoma Cost Accounting System showed this cost $13,736 per student in the 2023-2024 school year.
“Given the estimated 3,000 unaccompanied undocumented minors estimated to be in Oklahoma, this results in an estimated additional cost to Oklahoma taxpayers of approximately $41,208,000 since the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration,” said the lawsuit.
Walters is seeking coverage for the costs of recruiting and retaining bilingual staff, additional school counselors, academic and language assessments, transportation, nutritional assistance and other resources needed to educate migrant children.
“While President Biden has spent four years neglecting his responsibility to protect our borders, hardworking Oklahomans are being forced to bear the costs of his dereliction of duty,” Walters said.
Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters (pictured) sued the Biden administration for as much as $474 million over the costs of educating illegal migrant students
The lawsuit claims it has cost Oklahoma taxpayers $41,208,000 to educate immigrant students since the start of the Biden-Harris administration
“This lawsuit is about accountability and ensuring our children receive the quality education they deserve, free from the failures of the federal government, even a failed, outgoing administration. I will always fight for Oklahoma students and Oklahoma taxpayers.”
In his press release about the lawsuit, Walters used the figure of $474 million, but that specific amount is not mentioned in the court documents.
However, Walters sent Vice President Kamala Harris a letter in November demanding $474.9 million from the federal government to reimburse taxpayers, it was reported The Oklahoman.
The figure comes from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an organization labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center because of ties to white supremacist groups.
The figure is based on estimates including that 41,766 children of undocumented immigrants attended Oklahoma schools in 2023.
At the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 137,275 encounters with unaccompanied children in 2023, a 9.7 percent decrease from the previous year.
Schools across the country have buckled under pressure to accommodate the influx of migrant students.
Teachers and staff at a Maine elementary school say it is plagued by violence and bullying amid an influx of migrants to the community. One teacher even burst into tears as she described how she was attacked.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 137,275 encounters with unaccompanied children at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2023. In the photo: migrants taken at the American border
Schools across the country have buckled under pressure to accommodate the influx of migrant students. In the photo: a man and his children in a migrant caravan
She and many other staff members at Montello Elementary School in Lewiston implored school district administrators on Nov. 18 to take action amid the violence they say traumatized migrant children are bringing into the school environment.
They have argued that the school’s problems have led to staff shortages as several teachers have quit due to increasing class sizes, as literacy coaches have been forced to plan lessons, the researchers said. Sun Journal.
Students at a school in Philadelphia eat their lunch at 9 a.m. because the district is so busy with immigrants that the cafeteria eating areas are spread out throughout the day.
Young people at Lincoln High School also lug their backpacks all day because there are not enough lockers at a school that now has a thousand children over capacity.
Officials have added makeshift layouts to increase the number of available classrooms, but teachers say the new walls are too thin to keep out noise and have fallen during classes.