NEWS FLASH

Local Board Of Education Opposes Alabama’s Immigration Law | Members of the Birmingham Board of Education, which oversees one of the state’s largest school districts, passed a resolution opposing HB 56, Alabama’s draconian immigration law. According to the resolution, “The Birmingham Board of Education firmly believes that its public schools are improperly the focus of the federal and state enforcement dispute.” A provision of HB 56 required school districts to ask newly enrolled students about their citizenship status, which led to Hispanic students skipping school out of fear after the law went into effect. A federal judge temporarily blocked this provision in mid-October, and the Justice Department requested absenteeism information from schools to ensure that students were not being denied their right to an education. Read the Birmingham Board of Education’s full resolution here.