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DREAM Act more urgent than ever

Like nine other states, California allows students who attend high school in the state for three years and graduate to pay in-state tuition at public universities.

Yet a group of out-of-state parents doesn't like the law. The gripe? AB 540 allows kids whose parents entered the state illegally to pay in-state tuition. So they filed a lawsuit in Yolo Superior Court.

Lawmakers passed AB 540 because they want kids who were brought to California through no decision of their own and who have little or no connection with their parents' country to be educated, productive members of society.

The Superior Court upheld the state law. But the California Court of Appeal, 3rd District, overturned it last Monday.

At issue is a September 1996 federal law that says students "not lawfully present in the United States" shall not be eligible, "based on residency," for any postsecondary education benefit unless U.S. citizens also are eligible for the benefit.

California's AB 540 is explicit that in-state tuition for all persons is based on attendance and graduation from a California high school, not residence. But the three appeals court justices didn't see that.

The public universities and colleges will have to appeal to the California Supreme Court.

In the meantime, the justices have suggested a way that lawmakers can fix the state law. Another federal law says a state can provide benefits to noncitizens if it specifically enacts a state law "which affirmatively provides for such eligibility." As Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Ángeles, has said lawmakers thought they did that with AB 540.

Yet the justices want a few words added to AB 540 to explicitly say that the state is carving out an exception for noncitizens. Cedillo believes they're wrong on this. But the changes should be easy to do.

The bottom line is that this convoluted court decision is yet another reason for Congress to fix the mess. Pass the federal DREAM Act. This country is better off if these kids are educated than if they're not.

-- The Sacramento Bee, Sept. 19