Once again the costs of federal governments failed immigration policies are borne at the local level.
AUSTIN Texas (Texas Insider Report) Texas comes in at around $78 million. State & local governments nationwide will need to find
an additional $761 million to fund the education of 10s of 1000s of Central American children who have
crossed the border illegally according to a new report by
The Federation for American Immigration 
Reform (FAIR) that used federal government data to determine how many of the
37000 children who have entered the U.S. as part of the latest surge are eligible to attend public schools.
These kids will require special Limited English Proficient (LEP) classes conducted in Spanish or in other languages indigenous to Central American as well as other taxpayer-funded services such as free and reduced school meals.
Once again the costs of federal governments failed immigration policies are borne at the local level and the nations public school system is where the costs are most visible said a statement from FAIR.
Based on earlier estimates of the cost of educating LEP students in public school FAIR estimated the costs to individual states to provide services including reduced lunches to those immigrants who were released to sponsors or adult relatives between January 1 and July 31.
According to FAIR in New York it will cost $147.7 million to educate an estimated 4244 unaccompanied minors.
- At $35520 per pupil New York tops the list followed by
- Texas ($78 million)
- Maryland ($68 million) and
- California ($64 million)
Under federal law these children are entitled to attend public school regardless of immigration status.
Nationally federal agencies anticipate they will need to manage about 60000 unaccompanied minors in the next year which compares with about 7500 who arrived before the numbers surged to 13625 last year and about 25000 in the current year
according to
The Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy told The Times that his system likely will look to the state rather than the federal government to provide money through Californias new funding system which would use other sources such as funding for migrant or homeless students.
In another state
atop FAIRs list Maryland school officials held a briefing recently in which they said there were 100 undocumented students already enrolled in Montgomery County schools but could not say how many would be attending school in the coming year according to
WTOP.
You know were waiting to hear at this point; we dont know what the numbers will be for the next school year Montgomery County Public Schools Spokesman Dana Tofig said after a recent press briefing.
Not all have embraced the idea of educating the undocumented children.
To find out yesterday that they have over 100 so-called unaccompanied minors already in the public school system was kind of a shock to those of us who follow this issue Executive director of the anti-immigrant group Help Save Maryland Brad Botwin told WTOP.
There are other ways to handle this issue we need to repatriate and reunite families back in their home countries Botwin added.
The
Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is opposed to amnesty and favors an enforcement-first immigration policy.
