[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 45 (Monday, March 22, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3058-S3059]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LUGAR:
  S. 677. A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to 
provide a limited waiver of a requirement for reimbursement of local 
educational agencies for the costs of foreign students' education in 
certain cases; to the Committee on the Judiciary.


        Limited Waiver of Cost Requirements for Foreign Students

  Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill that will 
permit local school officials the opportunity to waive the cost 
requirements of foreign students studying in our public high schools in 
the United States on F-1 visas. The law now mandates that all foreign 
students who are not in a government-funded exchange program pay or 
reimburse the local school district the cost of their education.
  In those public school districts flooded with foreign students who 
pay no taxes, this requirement makes good sense. However, in those 
school districts which enroll a small number of foreign students or 
experience little or no burden, there may be no desire for tuition 
reimbursement. The decision to enroll and to require cost reimbursement 
should be made at the local level. Current law, however, does not 
permit this local discretion. The bill I am introducing today will 
allow local school districts the chance to waive the requirement that 
foreign students pay for the cost of their education. The decision to 
waive or not waive this requirement should be made at the grassroots 
level where the problem, if any, exist, not in Washington. My bill 
seeks to preserve this principle. It would amend the Illegal 
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA).
  Foreign exchange students bring knowledge, cultural exposure and 
understanding to American students, schools and communities. I have 
been a proponent of cultural and educational exchanges and have 
supported most international exchange programs over the years--both 
those which bring foreign visitors here and those which send American 
students, scholars and practitioners abroad. Most recently, my office 
participated in the Congress-Bundestag program. An intern from Germany 
worked in my office for several weeks and learned about how a Senate 
office functions. I remain committed to these exchange programs. They 
bring enormous benefits to our country as well as to the individuals.
  In 1996, I supported the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant 
Responsibility Act. This law states that as of November 30, 1996, 
IIRIRA prohibits any alien from receiving an F-1 student visa to attend 
a public elementary school, grades K-8, or a publicly-funded adult 
education program unless they pay the unsubsidized, per capita cost of 
their education in advance. My bill would not change current law 
relating to elementary schools or adult education. It would not pertain 
to students on formal, government-funded international exchanges such 
as those managed by the State Department, the USIA and many other 
federal government agencies. It would simply allow high school 
officials to waive the cost of the education of high school-level 
foreign students if that was their own choice.

  Several municipalities have ``Sister City'' arrangements between 
American cities and cities in foreign countries. One valuable component 
of these arrangements is an exchange program for high school students 
enabling American youth to spend a year in a foreign high school while 
students from abroad spend a year in a high school here. No tuition is 
generally exchanged under the sister city agreement, but current U.S. 
law states that visitors to our country must pay the unsubsidized cost 
of their education, even though American students attending schools 
abroad are exempted from the cost requirement.
  Along the Alaska-Yukon, Alaska-British Columbia and U.S.-Mexican 
borders there are schools serving very remote communities on both sides 
of the border. After enactment of the 1996 law, Canadian or Mexican 
students were no longer eligible to enter the United States to attend 
local public schools even though governments and the local school 
districts agreed to enroll the students.
  Many school districts choose to enroll one or two exchange students a 
year. Reciprocal exchange agreements are beneficial and host families 
enjoy these students in their homes. American exchange students 
attending schools in Germany, for example, are not subjected to the 
same tuition requirements for their schooling, yet they gain an 
understanding of German history and culture and benefit from their 
travels. Currently, U.S. law requires foreign students to pay their 
tuition before they arrive in the United States. The extra paper work, 
the up-front costs and the extra burden these requirements place on 
foreign students tend to undermine the purpose of cultural exchanges.
  I remain mindful to past abuses of F-1 visas and am sympathetic to 
the burden that large enrollments of foreign students place on American 
public schools. My purpose in introducing this bill today is not to 
weaken the law as it currently reads, but to provide an outlet for our 
schools to have an opportunity for enrolling international exchange 
students.
  Last year, I was successful in getting similar legislation passed in 
the Senate. Unfortunately, it was dropped in conference. This bill has 
the support of many Senators, of the Department of Education, 
Department of State and the USIA as well as most U.S. non-governmental 
organizations interested in immigration, student exchanges, public 
education. It is my hope that the Senate will once again pass this 
bill.
  Mr. President, I ask that the bill be included in the Congressional 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 677

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. LIMITED WAIVER OF REIMBURSEMENT REQUIREMENT FOR 
                   CERTAIN FOREIGN STUDENTS.

       Section 214(l)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
     U.S.C. 1184(l)(1)), as added

[[Page S3059]]

     by section 625(a)(1) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and 
     Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (110 Stat. 3009-699), is 
     amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (B), by redesignating clauses (i) and 
     (ii) as subclauses (I) and (II), respectively;
       (2) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses 
     (i) and (ii), respectively;
       (3) by striking ``(l)(1)'' and inserting ``(l)(1)(A)''; and
       (4) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
       ``(B) The Attorney General shall waive the application of 
     subparagraph (A)(ii) for an alien seeking to pursue a course 
     of study in a public secondary school served by a local 
     educational agency (as defined in section 14101 of the 
     Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
     8801) if the agency determines and certifies to the Attorney 
     General that such waiver will promote the educational 
     interest of the agency and will not impose an undue financial 
     burden on the agency.''.

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