Arizona appeals Ninth Circuit ruling on ELL students to U.S. Supreme Court
Education Week reports that the Arizona legislature has filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Flores v. Arizona rejecting the state legislature’s 2006 effort to comply with an eight year old U.S. District Court order for adequate funding of English Language Learner (ELL) programs. In the petition, the speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives and the president of the Arizona Senate ask the high court to consider the state’s arguments that it is meeting its legal obligation to educate English-language learners.
Source: Education Week, 9/16/08, By Mary Ann Zehr
[Editor’s Note: In a blog item below, Ms. Zehr of Education Week discusses the arguments put forth by the legislature in its petition. The petition in part argues: “[T]his court's intervention is needed to put an end to the federal judiciary's eight-year reign over Arizona's schools. Arizona needs this court's help to return control over the funding of Arizona's school programs to where it rightly belongs—out of the hands of a single federal district court judge and back into the hands of Arizona's democratically accountable officials.” She also notes that Kenneth Starr is the attorney of record for the legislature. The petition is at the second link. The Arizona Daily Star reports on an issue with Mr. Starr’s proposed $910 per hour compensation, which a state official says under state guidelines is supposed to be capped at $335 an hour. Background on the litigation is available starting at the last link.]
Source: Education Week, 9/3/08, By Mary Ann Zehr
Arizona petition for certiorari
Source: Arizona Daily Star, 9/10/08, By Howard Fischer
NSBA School Law pages on Flores v. Arizona