BOISE, Idaho — A newly introduced piece of legislation in the Idaho House Education Committee could change how the state keeps track of student demographics. House Bill 382 would require that all public schools, including higher education institutions, collect students' immigration status and nationality. From there, the data would be posted on the state superintendent's website.
Nampa Representative Steve Tanner noted there are as many as 112,000 people living in the state who are foreign-born, including refugees, undocumented individuals, naturalized citizens, and those under a working visa. "What kind of accommodations need to be made and for how many? How many students are we talking about?" said Tanner.
"We're asking to add only two bits of information be added to the demographic record, and that is immigration status and nationality," said Tanner.
Tanner said all other student information would be kept private. The legislation advanced through committee and will now be introduced in the House.
