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|**U.S. Department of Justice***Civil Rights Division* | **U.S. Department of Education***Office for Civil Rights**Office of the General Counsel*
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|                                                     |                                                      | More ResourcesDear Colleague Letterdownload files
PDF (130K)Q's & A's (Revised 7/2012)download files
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|Q's & A's (Revised 7/2012)download files
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|Fact Sheet (Revised 6/2012)download files
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May 6, 2011

Dear Colleague:

Under Federal law, State and local educational agencies (hereinafter "districts")
  are required to provide all children with equal access to public education
  at the elementary and secondary level.  Recently, we have become aware of student
  enrollment practices that may chill or discourage the participation, or lead
  to the exclusion, of students based on their or their parents' or guardians'
  actual or perceived citizenship or immigration status.  These practices contravene
  Federal law.  Both the United States Department of Justice and the United States
  Department of Education (Departments) write to remind you of the Federal obligation
  to provide equal educational opportunities to all children residing within
  your district and to offer our assistance in ensuring that you comply with
  the law.

The Departments enforce numerous statutes that prohibit discrimination, including
  Titles IV and VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Title IV prohibits discrimination
  on the basis of race, color, or national origin, among other factors, by public
  elementary and secondary schools.  42 U.S.C. § 2000c-6.  Title VI prohibits
  discrimination by recipients of Federal financial assistance on the basis of
  race, color, or national origin.  42 U.S.C. § 2000d.  Title VI regulations,
  moreover, prohibit districts from unjustifiably utilizing criteria or methods
  of administration that have the effect of subjecting individuals to discrimination
  because of their race, color, or national origin, or have the effect of defeating
  or substantially impairing accomplishment of the objectives of a program for
  individuals of a particular race, color, or national origin.  *See* 28
  C.F.R. § 42.104(b)(2) and 34 C.F.R. § 100.3(b)(2).

Additionally, the United States Supreme Court held in the case of *Plyler
    v. Doe*, 457 U.S. 202 (1982), that a State may not deny access to a basic
    public education to any child residing in the State, whether present in the
    United States legally or otherwise.  Denying "innocent children" access to
    a public education, the Court explained, "imposes a lifetime hardship on
    a discrete class of children not accountable for their disabling status.
    . . .  By denying these children a basic education, we deny them the ability
    to live within the structure of our civic institutions, and foreclose any
    realistic possibility that they will contribute in even the smallest way
    to the progress of our Nation."  *Plyler*, 457 U.S. at 223.  As *Plyler* makes
    clear, the undocumented or non-citizen status of a student (or his or her
    parent or guardian) is irrelevant to that student's entitlement to an elementary
    and secondary public education.

To comply with these Federal civil rights laws, as well
  as the mandates of the Supreme Court, you must ensure that you do not discriminate
  on the basis of race, color, or national origin, and that students are not
  barred from enrolling in public schools at the elementary and secondary level
  on the basis of their own citizenship or immigration status or that of their
  parents or guardians.  Moreover, districts may not request information with
  the purpose or result of denying access to public schools on the basis of race,
  color, or national origin.  To assist you in meeting these obligations, we
  provide below some examples of permissible enrollment practices, as well as
  examples of the types of information that may not be used as a basis for denying
a student entrance to school.

In order to ensure that its educational services are enjoyed
  only by residents of the district, a district may require students or their
  parents to provide proof of residency within the district.  *See*, *e.g.*, *Martinez
  v. Bynum*, 461 U.S. 321, 328 (1983).1  For
  example, a district may require copies of phone and water bills or lease agreements
  to establish residency.  While a district may restrict attendance to district
  residents, inquiring into students' citizenship or immigration status, or that
  of their parents or guardians would not be relevant to establishing residency
within the district.

A school district may require a birth certificate to ensure that a student
  falls within district-mandated minimum and maximum age requirements; however,
  a district may not bar a student from enrolling in its schools based on a foreign
  birth certificate.  Moreover, we recognize that districts have Federal obligations,
  and in some instances State obligations, to report certain data such as the
  race and ethnicity of their student population.  While the Department of Education
  requires districts to collect and report such information, districts cannot
  use the acquired data to discriminate against students; nor should a parent's
  or guardian's refusal to respond to a request for this data lead to a denial
  of his or her child's enrollment.

Similarly, we are aware that many districts request a student's social security
  number at enrollment for use as a student identification number.  A district
  may not deny enrollment to a student if he or she (or his or her parent or
  guardian) chooses not to provide a social security number.*See* 5
  U.S.C. §552a (note).2
  If a district chooses to request a social security number, it shall inform
  the individual that the disclosure is voluntary, provide the statutory or other
  basis upon which it is seeking the number, and explain what uses will be made
  of it.  *Id.*  In all instances of information collection and review,
  it is essential that any request be uniformly applied to all students and not
  applied in a selective manner to specific groups of students.

As the Supreme Court noted in the landmark case of *Brown
    v. Board of Education*, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), "it is doubtful that any
    child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he [or she] is denied
    the opportunity of an education."  *Id.*at 493.  Both Departments
    are committed to vigorously enforcing the Federal civil rights laws outlined
    above and to providing any technical assistance that may be helpful to you
    so that all students are afforded equal educational opportunities.  As immediate
    steps, you first may wish to review the documents your district requires
    for school enrollment to ensure that the requested documents do not have
    a chilling effect on a student's enrollment in school.  Second, in the process
    of assessing your compliance with the law, you might review State and district
    level enrollment data.  Precipitous drops in the enrollment of any group
    of students in a district or school may signal that there are barriers to
their attendance that you should further investigate.

Please contact us if you have any questions or if we can provide you with
  assistance in ensuring that your programs comply with Federal law.  You may
  contact the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Educational Opportunities
  Section, at (877) 292-3804 or education@usdoj.gov,
  or the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at (800) 421-3481
  or ocr@ed.gov. You may also visit http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/OCR/contactus.cfm for
  the OCR enforcement office that serves your area.  For general information
  about equal access to public education, please visit our websites at http://www.justice.gov/crt/edo and http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html.

We look forward to working with you.  Thank you for your attention to this
  matter and for taking the necessary steps to ensure that no child is denied
  a public education.

Sincerely,

| | /s/ |  | /s/ |  | /s/
| | --- |  | --- |  | ---

|Russlynn Ali
Assistant Secretary
Office for Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Education | Charles P. Rose
          General Counsel
          U.S. Department of Education | Thomas E. Perez
Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
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1Homeless
   children and youth often do not have the documents ordinarily required for
   school enrollment such as proof of residency or birth certificates.  A school
   selected for a homeless child must immediately enroll the homeless child,
   even if the child or the child's parent or guardian is unable to produce the
 records normally required for enrollment.  *See*42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(3)(C)(i).

2 Federal
  law provides for certain limited exceptions to this requirement.  *See*Pub.
L. 93-579 § 7(a)(2)(B).



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