Kerry Townsend, the media specialist coordinator in the Columbia public schools in Missouri, thinks an influx of immigrants has helped bring diversity to her college town in the central part of the Show Me State. But providing the newcomers with a high-quality education comes with a financial strain.
Townsend called the impact of immigration on school systems like hers, 鈥渧ery complicated. It鈥檚 good to get different points of view, different perspectives. It鈥檚 good for students who have grown up in Missouri to see that there鈥檚 more beyond Missouri,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut I think it鈥檚 very expensive.鈥� Schools don鈥檛 always get the resources they need, Townsend said.
Many of her colleagues in the K-12 field are similarly conflicted. Forty-four percent of educators surveyed by the 91直播 Research Center said they saw the impact of immigration on schools as 鈥渕ixed,鈥� while another 38 percent said it was a 鈥済ood thing.鈥� Only 8 percent saw it as a 鈥渂ad thing.鈥�
Like Townsend, educators who can see both the pros and cons tended to point to increased diversity as a major upside and to the squeeze on resources as the biggest downside.
The 91直播 Research Center surveyed a nationally representative sample of teachers, school-based leaders, and district leaders about their politics and views on a wide range of K-12 issues. The 38-question survey was administered in September and October to 1,122 educators including 555 teachers, 266 school leaders, 202 district leaders, and 99 other school or district employees. The margin of error for the survey overall was plus or minus 5 percent. Followup interviews involved survey respondents who agreed to be contacted after the survey and were willing to be quoted on a range of subjects.
More Survey Findings:
- Survey Paints Political Portrait of America鈥檚 K-12 Educators
- Many Educators Skeptical of School Choice, Including Conservatives, Survey Shows
- Do Teachers Political Views Align With Their Unions?
- Educators Conflicted on LGBT Issues, Survey Shows
Read the full report.
Immigrants bring with them 鈥渢alent and diversity,鈥� said James Frank, the principal of Crest Ridge High School in Centerview, Mo. At the same time, 鈥渢he reality is that there鈥檚 a financial burden that comes with鈥� an influx of immigrants.
Others though, see immigration as an unadulterated positive.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an excellent thing for every student,鈥� said Jeann茅 Collins, the superintendent of Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union. 鈥淰ermont kids have very little opportunity to think outside of their white world. The opportunity to go to school with kids who speak other languages, are from other cultures, can only be a good thing.鈥� Meanwhile, most educators surveyed鈥攏early 70 percent鈥攅ither 鈥渃ompletely support鈥� or 鈥渟omewhat support鈥� the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, an Obama-era initiative that allows undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children to remain here legally. Just 7 percent 鈥渃ompletely oppose鈥� DACA, and 12 percent 鈥渟omewhat鈥� oppose it. President Donald Trump recently signed a directive that will terminate the program in March of next year, unless Congress acts.
Many educators have sympathy for DACA beneficiaries.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard for me to hold something against a child that they didn鈥檛 do,鈥� said Vance Nichols, a Republican who is the head of school at Alta Loma Christian School, a private, faith-based school in Southern California. Dreamers, he said, using the term identified with such students, are 鈥渉ere not of their own volition, and they鈥檝e created a life. Dreamers are an asset to our nation, and they love America.鈥�
Others, though, aren鈥檛 sure it鈥檚 a good idea to reward families who have technically violated the law.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think they should extend DACA. If I鈥檓 standing in line to get a cup of coffee, I don鈥檛 want people butting in line,鈥� said Tim Erickson, a special education teacher at Detroit Lakes High School in northwestern Minnesota and a political independent. 鈥淲e have rules for a reason, and people should follow them.鈥�
