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The Tennessee Conservative [By Olivia Lupia] –
The Tennessee Conservative conducted a survey of Republican voters in Hamilton County asking for their opinions on President Trump’s immigration stances and taxpayer-funded education for illegal immigrants in Tennessee. After polling over 360 constituents, the results were overwhelmingly supportive of Trump’s illegal immigration policies and deeply unfavorable to subsidizing education for those not in the country legally.
Voters also gave their opinions on if a vote in support of education for illegals would shift their view about Republican candidates, which most concurred it would.
The results are as follows:
Q1. Do you have a Favorable or Unfavorable Opinion of President Trump’s policies on illegal immigrants in his first 100 days of his second term?
Very Favorable: 259 (71.0%)
Somewhat Favorable: 29 (7.9%)
Somewhat Unfavorable: 14 (3.8%)
Very Unfavorable: 59 (16.2%)
Undecided: 4 (1.1%)
Q2. Do you think Tennessee taxpayers should fund illegal immigrant’s education in Hamilton County?
Yes: 64 (17.5%)
No: 288 (78.9%)
Undecided: 13 (3.6%)
Q3. If you knew a Republican elected official voted to support taxpayer funded education for illegal immigrants, would you still vote for them in the Republican Primary?
Yes: 66 (18.1%)
No: 215 (58.9%)
Undecided: 84 (23.0%)
As a follow-up, The Tennessee Conservative also contacted the seven Republican members of the Hamilton County Board of Education (HCBE), asking for any comments on the survey results and if these results would have altered their vote on a resolution the board adopted a few weeks ago in opposition to HB0793/SB0836, a bill which would have allowed school districts to charge tuition for students who could not provide proof of citizenship or legal status.
Though the bill passed the Senate, it was ultimately stalled in the House for the year amidst concerns that its passage could jeopardize federal funding.
Four Hamilton County School Board Republicans- Ben Daugherty, Larry Grohn, Gary Kuehn and Joe Smith- joined the board’s Democrats to vote in favor of the resolution opposing the bill, while the remaining three Republicans – Felice Hadden, Jodi Schaffer, and Steve Slater- chose to abstain from a vote.
The Tennessee Conservative received the following responses to our inquiry:
Larry Grohn- District 8:
“Until the State legislature passes a bill to enforce their joint resolution, I will continue to follow federal law. In addition, the State would also need to fund the legislation; it can’t be an unfunded mandate. In my opinion, any State, and the LEA, which decides to generate this report would face an immediate class-action lawsuit meant to trigger a SCOTUS review of Plyler vs DOE (1982). I don’t believe any district would make the decision to be the test case and then face millions of dollars in attorney fees.“
*Note- HB0793/SB0836 was not a joint resolution as stated above, but an actual bill. The sponsors expressed multiple times their intention to have the bill challenged in court should it pass to try and overturn Plyler v Doe, a 1982 Supreme Court decision which mandated all children in the country are entitled to free education regardless of citizenship status. The bill also provided that any school district who faced a lawsuit would be defended by the State Attorney General at no cost to the district or LEA.*
Gary Kuehn- District 9:
“Before I answer, let me give you some of my educational background as a past Principal of 23 years. In 1999-2000 I put my name in to be considered for administration for Hamilton County schools. A new training pipeline for administration was created and I was accepted as one of 24 first candidates for the leadership fellows’ program being paid for by the public education foundation. One of the things we had to do in this program was a project with regards to administrative duties. My project was to research and create a presentation for starting a young adult high school in Hamilton County such as one that had just been created in San Antonio Texas.
The school had the backing of both Judge Philyaw and now Retired Judge Susanne Bailey. Due to the high numbers of juveniles dropping out and going into the prison system and also into the welfare system. These two judges requested the Hamilton County school system to look into what Alamo Heights high school in San Antonio Texas had accomplished.
This project eventually led to the startup of Hamilton County young adult high school in the year 2004–2005, which saved taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars by educating dropouts that were allowed to come back to this special school rather than have to pay for their upkeep in the prison system or later in the welfare system.
During the 15 years at the school was open and I was the principal, we had 2156 graduates that were not successful in their regular high school. Many of these would not have made it in the job world and we’re not allowed to go into the military because you had to have a diploma so many would’ve ended up either jobless or in jail. Both costing taxpayers a huge amount of money.
This is also what might happen if we were to not educate immigrant children that live within our district. Better to take them in and educate them then to possibly have to worry about them not making it and either ending up in a state institution or on our welfare system.
This is why I voted the way I did.“
Felice Hadden- District 10:
“I am sorry, but I cannot comment on anything that is a distraction to our budget discussions right now. Thank you for asking.“
Steve Slater – District 1:
“I would support Bo Watson’s bill if/when it becomes an option from the Tennessee Legislature. Hamilton County currently charges tuition for out of county or out of state students. I see no difference if it is an illegal immigrant.“
*Note- we will update this article with any responses received after publication*
Overall, it appears the Republican members of the HCBE are unyielding in their stances regardless of the recorded views of their constituency.
About the Author: Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
