Lawmakers React to Del Rio's Problem

They live in Mexico, but your tax dollars are educating them.

There they are the smiling faces of American children, proudly waving their American passports n their way to American public schools in Del Rio, Texas.

Though they were born in the United States, each day, these kids journey to school from their homes in Mexico, and the numbers are staggering

But Kelt Cooper, the superintendent of the San Felipe Del Rio Independent School District, wants to stop them.

“They want what we can provide,” he said. “But unfortunately they don’t contribute to supporting that effort.”

Since it’s your tax dollars being used to educate these kids, we took our report to your state lawmakers.

Republican Senator Dan Patrick and Democrat Senator Mario Gallegos both sit on the senate’s education committee.

"I believe that some of the options provided these parents by law and their U.S. citizen kids, they have some rights," Gallegos said.

It boils down to interpretation.

State law requires students to live in the district where they attend public schools.

Cooper says many of these students don't, but their parents use a relatives or a friend's Del Rio address to enroll them in his schools. That’s why he believes they're breaking the rules.

Senator Patrick agrees. Senator Gallegos does not.

"We have very strict rules about living in the district and going to school,” Patrick says. “If we're going to allow students from another country to come into our public schools, then we should have school choice for everyone in Texas."

"Senator Patrick is right when he says that but there’s other exceptions,” Gallegos says. “There’s several exceptions under state law. If there’s papers already granting that grandparent guardianship status, that child can go back and forth as long as he wants."

But it’s not that simple.

If lawmakers don’t agree on what's law, how can school administrators enforce it?