Minnesota lawmakers heard the Education Protection Bill at the legislature last week—a bill codifying the right to free, K-12 public education for all students in Minnesota regardless of real or perceived immigration status.

The bill (HF 3409/SF 3803) advanced in the Senate but stalled out in the House. Unfortunately, no Republican in either chamber voted for it.

03/19/26 Update: The Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee has laid the bill over, keeping alive its chances of passing out of the chamber.

What’s in the bill?

First and foremost, the bill establishes state-level protections for public education access for all students. The right to public education for all students nationwide, regardless of immigration status, is already affirmed in the 1982 Supreme Court ruling in Plyler v. Doe.

This bill codifies that decision for Minnesota, so student protections would remain in place should the Supreme Court revisit and overturn Plyler.

But it also goes beyond Plyler. The bill provides guidance for school policies in response to immigration enforcement—a boon to smaller, less resourced schools and districts not able to lean on in-house counsel to parse murky legal situations.

The bill also safeguards against threats to students and families, the sharing of private information, and exclusionary practices and policies that discriminate against students based on real or perceived immigration status.

Why is the bill needed?

This is the question Republicans in the House asked. Apart from the components that build on the Plyler decision, why pass a bill to say what the federal government already does? In short: Minnesota families and students need assurance now from the state that their students are welcome and safe in school.

And, in case the federal government changes its mind.

Several state legislatures have introduced what Minnesota House Democrats described as “the antithesis of this bill”, prohibiting public education access for students in direct conflict with Plyler.

The long game for state-level legislation like that is not to stand unchallenged. It is to spur legal action and work its way through the courts in hopes the Supreme Court upends the decades-old precedent set in Plyler.

What’s next?

The bill is stalled in the House, where Democrats and Republicans have to contend with a 67-67 tie. Any bill without bipartisan support cannot pass the chamber let alone out of committee.

On the Senate side, despite similar party-line votes, the Democrats’ one vote edge has kept the bill alive. The bill’s best chance is to pass inside an omnibus education bill in the Senate—and find House Republicans willing to compromise as the House and Senate negotiate the differences between their bills. Don’t hold your breath.

The drawdown of Metro Surge may ease the sense of urgency for this legislation, but Education Evolving was working with coalition partners on this bill well before the operation began. We’ll keep pushing for its passage long after—in order to assert that, here in Minnesota, we believe students belong in school.