An estimated 25,0000 immigrant students who want to pay in-state tuition to attend public college in Tennessee will be forced to wait at least until 2016, following a legislative defeat on April 22 in which a bill failed to pass by one vote. 
Under the state constitution, supporters need 50 votes in the House of Representatives to pass any piece of legislation, including this college-related one which was dubbed “Tuition Equity” or “Tuition Equality” by advocates, according to the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC).
The 49-to-47 vote means the bill returns to the House Calendar and Rules Committee and can be considered during the next legislative session, TIRRC said. Three members of the state House of Representatives were absent for the vote.
“Many members failed to lead today, including many [who] had previously committed their support, faltering at the last minute,” Stephanie Teatro, co-executive director of TIRRC, said in an April 22 statement. “We wish that members of the General Assembly had demonstrated as much courage and leadership as immigrant students who fought for this legislation.”
Passage would have eliminated a two-tier tuition structure that affects undocumented immigrant youth who have lived in Tennessee for nearly their entire lives.
Under this structure, these young people – who are known as “DREAMers” and lack documents because their parents brought them to the United States as kids – pay out-of-state tuition to attend a public college in the state, TIRRC has said.
Out-of-state tuition can be three times more expensive than in-state costs.
The state Senate approved its version of the bill on April 16, giving momentum to supporters who had hoped that the state House would clear it to become law. Since May 2012, supporters – who now include immigrant students, their families, business and civic groups – have been advocating for the legislation, saying that it will help young people, communities and the state economy.
“After three years of campaigning, we are disappointed but not deterred,” TIRRC said in a statement.
“It’s hard to believe that we were only one vote away from having ‘Tuition Equality.’ We will continue to organize and campaign for ‘Tuition Equality’ so that the Class of 2015 can be the last class to graduate and have to pay three times as much as their peers,” Cesar Bautista, a youth leader for TIRRC, said in a statement.
“I want the General Assembly to know that by failing to pass ‘Tuition Equality,’ they are not only holding ambitious students like me back, but they voted to hold our whole state back.”
Of the three state lawmakers who were absent for the vote, one opposed the legislation, according to The Tennessean. That lawmaker told the media company that she expected the bill to pass. Another lawmaker had an excused absence.
But state Rep. Bo Mitchell said he planned on voting for the bill, but he had to leave for a work-related meeting, the media company reported. “As citizen legislators, unfortunately that happens,” he told journalists in explaining why he missed the vote.
The “Tuition Equity” legislation was introduced in February.
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition is a member-led organization that works on defending rights, raising social justice issues and making the state more inclusive.