WHEREAS:	Parents' involvement in their children’s education is critical to student academic achievement and
WHEREAS:	Immigrant families have educational concerns regarding language and culture; and
WHEREAS:	Policies related to diversity and English language learning programs, among other educational policies, are the purview of the Cambridge School Committee and
WHEREAS:	Immigrant families constitute a sizable percentage of working families in the City of Cambridge and
WHEREAS:	Residents of the City of Cambridge, regardless of their citizenship status, complete an annual City Census which is the basis for determining the local voting rolls, and
WHEREAS:	The Campaign for Immigrant Voting Rights garnered majority support from the Cambridge School Committee and the Cambridge City Council in the year 2000 and additional support for school principals and parents’ councils and
WHEREAS:	The Campaign for Immigrant Voting Rights filed a home-rule petition two years ago that will allow non-citizens in the city of Cambridge to vote in School Committee elections; and
WHEREAS:	Five municipalities in the state of Maryland have extended the rights to vote for local offices to non-citizens; the cities of Chicago and New York to non-citizen voting in school board elections, and various European cities, such as Dublin, also permit non-citizen voting and
WHEREAS:	The cities of Chelsea, Somerville and Amherst are also pursuing home-rule petitions granting resident non-citizens the right to vote; now therefore be it
RESOLVED:	That the Cambridge City of Council go on record petitioning the Commonwealth of Massachusetts General Court to enact the following home rule petition entitled An Act Enabling Certain Non-Citizen Residents Of Cambridge To Vote In School Committee And City Council Elections.
	AN ACT TO ENABLE CERTAIN NON-CITIZEN RESIDENTS OF CAMBRIDGE TO VOTE IN SCHOOL COMMITTEE AND CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS.   Section 1.     Notwithstanding the provisions of section one of chapter fifty-one of the general laws, or any other general or special law, rule or regulation to the contrary, non-citizens eighteen years or older who reside in the city of Cambridge may, upon application, have their names entered on a list of voters, established by the Elections Commission, for the city of Cambridge and may thereafter vote in any election for school committee members, school committee questions and City Council. Such non-citizen members shall remain eligible to vote in school committee and City Council elections for so long as they remain domiciled in Cambridge.
	Section 2. The Election Commission of Cambridge is authorized to formulate regulations, guidelines and registration form to implement the purpose of this act. The voter registration forms shall include a declaration to be signed under pains and penalties of perjury by the non-citizen voter that: 1) s/he is residing in Cambridge; 2) s/he intends in good faith to become a U.S. citizen and intends to begin that process, if eligible.
	Section 3. Nothing in this act shall be construed to confer upon non-citizens the right to vote for any, state or federal office or any state or federal ballot questions.