State: Bill foreigners for schools, Bush says

TALLAHASSEE -- In the melting pot of Miami-Dade County, nearly 15,000 new foreign students have streamed into classrooms since the school year began, straining already-crowded campuses as well as the public education budget.

Gov. Jeb Bush suggested a solution Thursday: Make the students from other countries pay for their education in Florida, if they can afford it.

Bush suggested a "means test" to determine if a foreign child is wealthy enough to help cover costs.

"Should we not suggest maybe there ought to be a payment of some kind to go to a world-class education system?" asked Bush, whose wife, Columba, was born in Mexico.

Several Florida counties have foreign students. Miami-Dade's foreign students largely come from Central and South American countries and Cuba.

More than once, the governor singled out "wealthy Brazilians" as those who might be able to come up with the cash to pay for public school.

The idea raises constitutional questions. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that even illegal aliens are entitled to a free public education under the Fourteenth Amendment, which provides for "equal protection" to each person, not just American citizens.

Bush's comments also come at a time when Florida is trying to build relations with Latin America. Thursday morning, Bush met with a council of economic advisers to discuss Florida's financial future. One topic of discussion: Increasing trade with Latin America, particularly Brazil and Argentina.

Bush talked about charging foreign students just prior to a speech before community college officials Thursday.

When pressed for details after the speech, Bush became defensive, saying, "I'm just throwing out an idea." He said school superintendents have raised concerns to him about the impact of foreign students who come in after the school year begins.

Florida schools face a problem right now, because state officials came in too low when they estimated how many children would be in the system this school year. More children enrolled than expected, and school districts are about $40-million short of what they need to educate those kids.

Bush blamed the problem, in part, on the new foreign students who continue to stream in. "There is no mechanism in our funding formula (used to allocate money to public schools) to deal with this," Bush said.

Having wealthy foreign students pick up the tab for their education is "one of several alternatives that need to be looked at," Bush said. Wayne Blanton, head of the Florida School Boards Association, said Bush asked him Thursday to check into the idea.

The concept is not without precedent. Foreign children in the United States temporarily can get student visas, but they must pay for the cost of their educations.

The students only can attend high schools for 12 months. Visas for kindergarten through eighth grade schools are not allowed. They also must assure federal officials that they are retaining their homes in a foreign country and will leave the United States after they have completed their studies. Miami-Dade charges students with such visas $5,589.38 a year, said John Schuster, a School Board spokesman.

House Democratic Leader Lois Frankel said Thursday that she doubts many foreign children in South Florida fit this category, and they would likely flunk any "means" test Bush might propose. "These children are at the bottom of the means test," Frankel said.

She added, "This country was born on immigrants. Can you imagine if we would have charged all immigrants (for their education)? I think we've got to be very careful with that."

Education Commissioner Charlie Crist, who spoke Thursday to a House education committee and told the story of his Greek grandfather coming to America, was at first exuberant about Bush's suggestion to charge foreign children. "I think it's a great idea," Crist said. "Our public school system is designed to take care of Floridians."

Crist changed his tune after his chief of staff, Robin Safley, a lawyer, whispered briefly to him while a reporter waited. Crist then said that it would be important to look at the constitutional questions involved, and study the impact of Bush's suggestion.

"It needs to be explored," Crist said.

- Times staff writer Shelby Oppel and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Back to State news

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk