Oklahoma’s prime elected schooling official despatched a “demand letter” to Vice President Kamala Harris that primarily served as an bill for what the unlawful immigration disaster underneath her tenure overseeing the border has value Sooner State colleges.
“Because the statewide elected Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Oklahoma and the Govt Officer of the Oklahoma State Division of Schooling (OSDE), it’s my obligation to make sure that the sources allotted to our public colleges are counted for and utilized in the simplest method attainable for the good thing about Oklahoma college students’ schooling,” Ryan Walters wrote to Harris.
In August, Walters tasked the division to work with college districts to calculate the monetary influence borne by taxpayers on unlawful immigrant minors.
That evaluation resulted in an estimate of $474.9 million, which he demanded of Harris within the letter.
“This demand quantity is, by necessity, an estimate as a result of solely your administration is aware of the true variety of unlawful immigrants crossing this nation’s borders and the precise prices of unlawful immigration,” he mentioned, calling for Harris to conduct a doubtlessly extra correct accounting of the prices incurred by Oklahoma colleges.
“Below your supervision, the prices in schooling as a consequence of unlawful immigration have risen astronomically. Your failed oversight and efforts are a direct trigger of the present crises Oklahoma and different states now face. Oklahoma taxpayers, colleges, academics, and oldsters mustn’t bear the burden of your failings. They deserve higher,” Walters mentioned.
In a Tuesday interview, Walters mentioned the border disaster is “crippling” Oklahoma colleges, and that paying for these minors’ schooling is the “largest unfunded mandate within the nation.”
He mentioned Oklahoma has been the primary state to each calculate the schooling prices of the border disaster and to really invoice the Biden-Harris administration for the fiscal disparity.
In August, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an government order directing hospitals to gather value info similarly, for sufferers “not lawfully current in the USA.”
“Since she’s been the border czar, she’s failed our nation,” Walters mentioned. “Open borders has had an influence on each facet of society, nevertheless it has overrun our colleges, decimated our households. And it’s completely time to carry them accountable for that.”
Walters mentioned he invitations different states to comply with go well with and calculate the true prices of unlawful immigration, to point out the true results of the disaster on the nation.
Harris’ workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark.
When requested if he expects a response or a remittance, Walters mentioned the administration has lengthy been “unresponsive to the wants of all Individuals.”
“I do know that they’ve magically pretended like they’ve cared about it right here within the final 60 days of their marketing campaign. However the actuality is, as you’ve seen story after story, information level after information level, and so they’ve ignored them,” he mentioned.
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