All public schools in the U.S. must provide an education to all students, regardless of their immigration status.
In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the right of immigrant students in Texas to attend school free of charge, regardless of their citizenship, in Plyler v. Doe. Texas had passed a law in 1975 that allowed public school districts to charge these students tuition, or not let them attend altogether. This law was repealed following the Supreme Court decision.
As scholars of history and education, we are particularly interested in understanding how Americans feel about this policy, which has been in place for four decades.
Some legislators in states like Ohio, Idaho and Oklahoma have unsuccessfully tried to make it harder for immigrant students to attend public school, by proposing that all public school students must share their immigration status prior to enrolling in school.
Tennessee considered a bill in 2025 and 2026 that would allow public school districts to not admit undocumented students. Though the bill passed the state Senate, it did not ultimately pass the House.
In March 2026, Republican representatives led a Congressional hearing focused on Plyer’s negative effects on U.S. schools and students, such as straining schools’ funding and available resources. The conservative think tank Heritage Foundation has called on all state legislators to propose laws that would challenge undocumented students’ right to attend public schools free of charge.
But what do most Americans actually think about undocumented students attending public schools? According to our recent survey, which is in the process of publication, most Americans broadly support public education for undocumented children.
Who supports public school for all?
In mid-April 2026, with support from the Public Religion Research Institute – an organization that supports public scholarship on the beliefs of the American public – two colleagues and I worked with Ipsos to survey a nationally representative random sample of more than 1,500 Americans about their views on public education and immigration. It was a diverse cross section of people who held a range of political beliefs and affiliations.
We asked respondents whether they agreed with the statement: “I believe all children, regardless of immigration status, should have the right to public education.”
We found that there were obvious differences between survey respondents’ views, depending on their political affiliation. For instance, of the survey respondents who voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, 95.7% of people agreed with the statement. Only 48.8% of survey respondents who voted for President Donald Trump agreed with the statement.
Similarly, 57.5% of Republicans overall agreed with the statement, while 93.9% of Democrats did.
But other than this political divide, we found strong support for universal education across all ages, ethnicity and faiths, with 75.5% of all Americans agreeing with the statement.
The survey revealed strong support for universal education, with 75.5% of all Americans agreeing with the statement. Among Hispanics and Latinos, nearly 86.9% supported the policy, along with 86.7% of African Americans, 77.7% of Asians Asian Americans and 69.9% of non-Hispanic white people.
In each income bracket, there was over 70% of support for free public education for all. Wealthier Americans – those making more than US$150,000 a year – supported this policy least, at 70.4%. More than 77% of those making under $150,000 supported it. Those making under $25,000 a year supported it by 82%.
Among age groups, American adults between 18-29 had the highest support for undocumented immigrant children attending public school, at 81.4%. Americans we surveyed over the age of 60, meanwhile, had the least support for the policy, at 71.5%.
Our survey showed that even looking at educational levels, there was little difference, with every group supporting public education for all students at 73% or more.
Across a range of faiths, people tended to support public education for all students, including undocumented immigrants. We found that 92.9% of Muslims, 82.2% of unaffiliated respondents, 81.1% of Jewish respondents, 79.5% of Catholics and 72.6% of mainline Protestants supported the idea of undocumented students attending school for free.
Evangelical Protestants were the outliers, with only 59.9% agreeing with this policy.
A shift in public opinion
While our data shows that today there’s widespread support for immigrant kids attending public school, these attitudes have shifted over time.
We can compare these numbers with polling about past state legislation, such as California’s Proposition 187, which passed in 1994.
Almost 60% of the state voted that year to bar undocumented students from public education. A federal court struck down the law in 1998 as unconstitutional.
While little other public polling exists showing how people feel about the Supreme Court’s Plyler ruling, there is data on a related question about undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children, often known as Dreamers. There seems to have been a shift since the ‘90s in public opinion toward supporting undocumented students. Much of this may have been due to the strong advocacy of Dreamers themselves.
In 2020, Pew Research found 74% of Americans think that people who were brought to the U.S. as young children without legal authorization should be allowed to legally stay in the country. Approximately 91% of Democrats said they thought Dreamers should be able to remain in the U.S., while 54% of Republicans said the same.
At 57.5%, Republicans’ support for public education for undocumented children might seem low. However, it does correlate with other recent polling from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst that shows 91% of Republicans support Trump’s overall immigration policies.
Even as political parties may play a role influencing views toward immigration, as a whole, Americans overwhelmingly support public education for all children.
This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: William McCorkle, College of Charleston; E. Kyle Romero, University of North Florida, and Lina-Maria Murillo, The University of Texas at Austin
Read more:
- Immigrant kids can attend school regardless of citizenship – some states are challenging this standard
- Federal immigration enforcement near schools disrupts attendance, traumatizes students and damages their academic performance
- There are long‑lasting, negative effects for children like Liam Ramos who are detained, or watch their parents be deported
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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