In the state's largest school district, Mesa Public Schools, about 600 people are enrolled in 35 adult-education classes, including 23 that focus on learning English, said Dave Eagleburger, the district's director of community education.

The other classes help students pass the General Education Development, or GED, test.

If students in those classes are forced to prove citizenship, "the result will be we will have fewer students in our adult-education program than we have now," Eagleburger said. "We've never asked, just like when a student comes into a school," Eagleburger said. "We've always been told it's not legal to ask for U.S. citizenship. What we ask for is residence."

Until state education officials give more direction, the Mesa district will continue to require only residency information, not documentation proving legal residency.

Thirty-six percent of the Mesa district's approximate 70,000 students were Hispanic, but it is unknown how many are undocumented immigrants, according to October statistics.

Mesa school officials say the courses are used to get parents more engaged in the education of their children and give adults the skills they need to get better jobs.

"Right now, we're just operating business as usual," said Sharon Holycross, early-childhood education coordinator.

Holycross oversees the district's family literacy program that serves students from low-income households. The program allows pre-school students to attend early-childhood education classes, while their parents are next door learning English. For a portion of class time, which lasts four to five hours a day, parents interact with their children and learn how to teach skills in reading, writing and math, said Holycross, who taught in the program for three years.