State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson on Wednesday filed a court brief supporting a Bay Area county’s request to stop an executive order by President Donald Trump that threatens to stop federal funding for California cities, counties, and possibly public schools.
Torlakson filed an amicus (friend-of-the-court) brief in the Federal Court’s Ninth District, where Santa Clara County has filed for a preliminary injunction to stop the president’s January executive order that would withhold federal dollars from cities that declare themselves sanctuaries.
The injunction request said 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.” The order fails to clearly define that term, Torlakson wrote in a press release issued Thursday.
The brief comes after a December notice in which he 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, including Fairfield-Suisun Unified, representing nearly 2 million students combined, have adopted such resolutions. Area school district leaders, including superintendents Brian Dolan of Dixon and Jane Shamieh of Vacaville, have said school officials do not inquire about a student’s immigration status when they register for school.
“The executive order places schools, school 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-12th-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 Court Judge William Orrick is scheduled to hold a hearing on the Santa Clara County motion April 5.
