I will assume you mean in the USA... Mandatory attendance laws vary from place to place. If the child is a US citizen I do not believe the status of the parents is relevant. Some local governments explicitly require public schools to support illegal families. In some place you need do little more than declare you are homeschooling to be excused from compulsory school attendance. It seems to me that if a family is here illegally... "requiring" an outlaw (i.e. someone intentionally and actively living in violation of law) to do anything "by law" would be futile. _______ KinKStar: you don't think there is some level of futility in passing laws demanding people report illegal income to pay taxes on it? I think your comment helps make my point.

School attendance is generally a federal law with regard to minors, however, individual States can and do pass legislation that interprets this. If you home-school your children, they are still being educated (I presume) and many states that allow home-schooling have mandatory testing of these home-schooled students. In regards to illegal immigrants and their undocumented children: In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plyler vs. Doe [457 U.S. 202 (1982)] that undocumented children and young adults have the same right to attend public primary and secondary schools as do U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Like other children, undocumented students are required under state laws to attend school until they reach a legally mandated age. As a result of the Plyler ruling, public schools may not: * deny admission to a student during initial enrollment or at any other time on the basis of undocumented status; * treat a student differently to determine residency; * engage in any practices to “chill” the right of access to school; * require students or parents to disclose or document their immigration status; * make inquiries of students or parents that may expose their undocumented status; or * require social security numbers from all students, as this may expose undocumented status. Students without social security numbers should be assigned a number generated by the school. Adults without social security numbers who are applying for a free lunch and/or breakfast program for a student need only state on the application that they do not have a social security number. Recent changes in the F-1 (student) Visa Program do not change the Plyler rights of undocumented children. These changes apply only to students who apply for a student visa from outside the United States and are currently in the United States on an F-1 visa. Also, the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits schools from providing any outside agency – including the Immigration and Naturalization Service – with any information from a child’s school file that would expose the student’s undocumented status without first getting permission from the student’s parents. The only exception is if an agency gets a court order (subpoena) that parents can then challenge. Schools should note that even requesting such permission from parents might act to “chill” a student’s Plyler rights. Finally, school personnel – especially building principals and those involved with student intake activities – should be aware that they have no legal obligation to enforce U.S. immigration laws. Edit: PhilDoc is exactly right in his comment. I neglected to leave out the site where I got most of this information. Fortunately, this is not an error I generally make as I always want to give the credit where it is due. I may know the answer to a question but it is very helpful to be able to find a site that expresses it much more thoroughly than I could. Thank you for making me aware of my omission Phil.

You're right not the correct venue for opionions, sorry.

Mandatory attendance laws do not apply to illegal aliens. Due to anchor baby laws, children born in US of illegal parents are US citizens. Schools actively avoid the question....in order to increase/maximize their attendance numbers, thereby getting more funding ...based on # of students attending per day. There is no requirement that students must learn anything.

I think it is very important for immigrants to have their child attend school. And for what I've seen the school system always helps the child.

Genrally speaking, most US states require children of certain ages to be in school - although it can now in most states be a home school. There are not usually exceptions for children of persons in the US unlawfully, irrespective of whether the child him or herself is a US Citizen. Most law enforcement agencies regard it as better to have the kids in school than running loose on the streets.

Does it matter? Illegal immigrants pick and choose which laws they want to follow so who is going to enforce this? The state has no idea that these children even exist for the most part. How can they possibly enforce a law requiring their parents to send them to school? The state, on the other hand, is required to provide schooling for them if they show up. It doesn't seem fair that tax payers be required to school the children of people who don't have the right to be in the country at all, but go figure. No politician wants to anger them as they hope to cultivate them into the next voting block IF they can get it past the ever vigilante American citizenry.

yes, everyone legal or illegal they are required to attend school...

Immigrants don't steal your jobs, They are forced to take the worst, hardest, least paying jobs, like cleaning your mall toilets, or building your roofs of your homes.They also continually get ripped off by their employers and don't get paid so they cant feed there family, because illegal immigrants don't have many rights, they cant fight back, and 'US citizens' take full advantage of that fact. Plus, Not every illegal immigrant/alien came here illegally or jumped the border. A majority came and overstayed there visa for many legitimate reasons or unplanned hardships. Immigrants built your country, Not one of you are full blooded "Americans". You're all immigrants, Your great family came here for a better life just like immigrants are now. Don't be so ignorant, There are so many unique cases out there and you can't just throw every immigrant into the same category. Heartless&ignorant.