Welcoming and Serving Children from Refugee and Immigrant Families

As part of Operation Allies Welcome, the federal government’s effort to safely resettle vulnerable Afghans, at least 850 individuals are likely to resettle in communities throughout Wisconsin. The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has developed a toolkit to support Wisconsin school districts as you welcome, enroll, and serve children from refugee and immigrant families. The initial chapters of this toolkit, focused on enrollment and registration; screening, identifying, and connecting students to services; and meeting immediate needs can be found online at dpi.wi.gov/refugee. More sections will be added soon.

Enrollment

As you know, local education agencies (LEAs) must provide all students with free public education, regardless of immigration or refugee status. Chapter 1 of DPI’s Toolkit provides an overview of relevant resources regarding enrollment and registration, including those from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Education (ED) clarifying district obligations under federal law.

As these resources note, while district policies and practices might include requesting certain documentation to demonstrate a student’s residency or age, those requests cannot have the effect of preventing or discouraging a student from enrolling in school. For example:

• A school district may not ask about a child’s or family’s citizenship or immigration status to establish residency within the district, nor may a school district deny a homeless child (including a homeless child who is undocumented) enrollment because he or she cannot provide the required documents to establish residency.
• While a school district may choose to include a parent or guardian’s state-issued identification or driver’s license among the documents that can be used to establish residency, a school district may not require such documentation to establish residency or for other purposes where such a requirement would unlawfully bar a student whose parents/guardians are undocumented from enrolling in school.
• While a district may request a birth certificate or affidavit setting forth the pupil’s age, school districts may not prevent or discourage a child from enrolling in or attending school because he or she lacks a birth certificate or has records that indicate a foreign place of birth, such as a foreign birth certificate.

Student Programs and Services

As with any other student, districts must also determine whether newly resettled students are eligible to participate in programs supported with local, state, and federal funds, including English learner services, services for children with disabilities, and services for children and youth experiencing homelessness. Chapter 2 of DPI’s Toolkit provides more information on these applicable laws, policies, and best practices for screening, identifying, and connecting newcomer students from immigrant and refugee families to services, including students with limited or interrupted formal education.

In addition to the resources provided in the toolkit, please note ED’s recent Dear Colleague Letter to Chief State School Officers, which provides detailed guidance about how federal funding can be used to support Afghan students and other recently arrived children, including funds under Title I, Part A; Title III, Part A; Title IV, Part A; and Title IV, Part B of the ESEA and IDEA. Funds allocated under the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund and the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) may also be used as appropriate to address the impact of COVID-19 on recently resettled children. For example, the National Association of English Learner Program Administrators has developed guidance for how ESSER I, II, and III funds can be used to support English learners.

Additional resources identified by ED that may be of assistance include: the U.S. Department of Education’s Keeping the Promise site, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Afghan Assistance Resources, Administration for Community Living’s Aging and Disability Networks, and the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory Protecting Youth Mental Health. In addition, the U.S. Department of Education’s 2017 Newcomer Tool Kit (2017) and the Regional Educational Laboratory Program (REL) Northwest’s Toolkit (2021) are vital resources for work with newcomer immigrant and refugee students.

Thank you for your ongoing work to educate, support, and serve all Wisconsin children and families, including those who have recently arrived. If you have any questions on this, please connect with Nicole Horsley, Director of Literacy and Mathematics at Nicole.Horsley@dpi.wi.gov.