Suit seeks to exempt English-learner students from Arizona's assessment test until funding for English-learner instruction improves
Tim Hogan of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest (ACLPI) has filed suit in federal district court, seeking to stay the State of Arizona from requiring English-learner students to pass the state's assessment test (AIMS) in order to graduate until the state complies with a federal court order to improve funding for English-learner instruction. The suit is in response to the two-month stalemate between Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and the state legislature over a new funding plan for English-learner programs. The AIMS requirement goes into effect with the class of 2006. Mr. Hogan indicates he will also ask the court "to withhold federal highway funds from the state as a sanction for not complying with the court order by the judge's deadline of last spring." He says, "It's not fair to require these kids to pass AIMS to graduate when the programs haven't been adequately funded for years, which the court found 5 1/2 years ago." Arizona Department of Education officials contend that providing English-learner students with an "unearned diploma" is not the answer to the funding dispute. "We don't believe it makes any sense for any high school student who isn't functioning in English to receive a diploma," says Margaret Garcia-Dugan, deputy superintendent of public instruction. "Probably the worst thing you can do is give a student a diploma (and) send them out into the world to compete with their peers when they aren't competent in English and their peers are. Without being proficient in English, you are not going to succeed in this society." Governor Napolitano has rejected the legislature's plan, which would require school districts to apply for grants, as inadequate. State legislators refuse to consider her counter proposal, which would increase spending for English-learners by $185 million a year, until the governor pledges to reverse a veto of an unrelated measure to create a corporate tuition tax credit for private schools. Ken Bennett, president of the state senate, believes the legislature's increase in per-student spending for English learners to more than $350 a year from $150 is evidence of its efforts to comply with the court order. He also argues that exempting English learners from the AIMS graduation requirement is a bad idea. "We should not expect more out of one group of students than we expect out of another based simply on demographics," he says. "Graduation from high school is an earned privilege, it's not a born right. It's not granted to students just because they walked into class this year."
Arizona RepublicBy Robbie Sherwood
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Editor's Note: In February 2005 an Arizona federal district court ruled that the Arizona legislature has failed to fund English as a Second Language programs (ESL) sufficiently for about 200,000 students. The court ordered the state to provide adequate funding for ESL programs. The new suit is promoted by the inability of the executive and legislative branches to agree on compliance with the earlier ruling. For additional information, see below.]
[NSBA School Law pages on suit]