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East County News Service
March 24, 2017 (Sacramento) – California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson filed a court brief Wednesday in the Ninth Circuit federal court supporting Santa Clara County’s request for a preliminary injunction to halt an executive order by President Donald Trump. Trump’s order aimed at deporting many undocumented immigrants threatens to stop federal funding for California cities, counties, and possibly public schools.
The injunction request claims the order is unconstitutional because it would compel local governments to take an active role in enforcing immigration law and could withhold federal funding from agencies, including schools, which declare themselves “sanctuary jurisdictions.” But Trump’s order doesn’t clearly define that term.
Torlakson last year urged California school districts to declare themselves “Safe Havens” and reminded parents and their families that state and federal law guarantee that students can attend public school, regardless of immigration status. To date, 57 separate school district boards of directors, representing nearly two million students combined, have adopted such resolutions.
“The Executive Order places schools, schools districts, and county offices of education, who have merely identified themselves as safe havens for undocumented students, in the precarious position of losing large amounts of federal funds without warning, notice, or clear guidance about what is meant by the order,” Torlakson said in the court brief.
California receives more than $8 billion annually in federal funds for kindergarten through twelfth grade education, which then goes to public schools, districts, and county offices of education. Federal funding ranges from help for students in disadvantaged communities to free and reduced cost breakfast and lunch for students from low-income families.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick is scheduled to hold a hearing on the Santa Clara County motion on April 5th.
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