LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
A Senate panel on Monday rejected a bill to grant the children of undocumented immigrants in-state tuition, a proposal that divided the head of Arkansas’ flagship university and the state’s higher education chief.
The Senate Education Committee on a voice vote rejected the proposal by Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, to grant in-state tuition to any student who attended high school in the state for at least three years and has a high school diploma.
Before the vote, Elliott compared the issue to the 1957 integration of Little Rock Central High School and said it was the state’s “Daisy Bates moment,” a reference to the woman who mentored the Little Rock Nine.
“We know what happens in this state when we choose not to educate a group of folks. We’re living it,” Elliott told the panel. “We know how this movie ends.”
Elliott’s proposal faced stiff resistance heading into Monday’s panel, including opposition from the state’s governor and from some lawmakers who had backed a similar proposal four years ago. As a House member, Elliott in 2005 originally proposed offering in-state tuition and scholarships to the children of undocumented immigrants.
That measure passed the House, but failed in the Senate despite removal of the scholarship provision.
