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Parents and a teacher urge Knox County Board to oppose Tennessee House Bill 793 and protect undocumented students' access to school
Summary
Multiple public forum speakers urged the Knox County Board of Education to adopt a legislative priority and resolution opposing Tennessee House Bill 793 and to affirm that all children in Knox County should be able to attend K-12 public school regardless of immigration status.
Several speakers at the Nov. 6 Knox County Board of Education meeting urged the board to oppose Tennessee House Bill 793 and to take a formal local stance protecting undocumented students' access to public K-12 education.
"When we deny a child the right to go to school, we're not solving a problem, we're creating one," said Kate McGuckin, a Knox County resident who described her volunteer work supporting immigrant families and warned of long-term social and economic harms if children are excluded from school. She urged the board to make opposing HB 793 a legislative priority in 2026.
Ellen Monroe, a Knox County Schools speech-language pathologist, said fear among immigrant families is causing absenteeism and harming students' access to services. Citing the Fourteenth Amendment, Monroe said exclusion from schools contributes to chronic absenteeism, academic decline and mental health challenges. "People who reside in Knox County pay the same amount of taxes regardless of their documentation status," she said, and asked the board to "commit to your oath of placing the interests of children above all others in every decision that you make."
Betsy Hockert, a teacher from South Knoxville, asked the board to pass a clear, unambiguous resolution opposing HB 793 and related bills. Hockert urged the board to place the item on the Dec. 1 work-session agenda and to vote on it by Dec. 4 to give board members time to speak with legislators.
Speakers referenced the U.S. Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe (which protects access to public education for children regardless of immigration status) and urged the board to use its legislative-priority process to oppose state measures that they said would permit discrimination against children based on immigration status.
Board members did not debate the substance of those requests during the public-comment period; members were reminded that the item would be considered on upcoming agendas, with a work session Dec. 1 and a regular session Dec. 4 noted in announcements earlier in the meeting.
