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PHOENIX — Gov. Janet Napolitano agreed Monday to provide $40.6 million in new state funds for English learners, one day ahead of a deadline set by a federal judge.
But she refused to actually ink her approval to the measure to show she doesn’t believe the measure actually resolves the issue. Instead, Napolitano let the bill become law without her signature.
That, for all intents and purposes, is the legal equivalent of signing the bill. But choosing this course gives her a chance to express her concerns and displeasure in writing.
More to the point, the governor noted that if the state missed today’s deadline of funding the plan it would have been subject to fines starting at $2 million a day.
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Monday’s action does not end the legal fight which has been going on since 1992.
Attorney Tim Hogan said he believes Arizona is still not complying with federal laws which require states to ensure that all students have an opportunity to learn English.
Hogan said Monday he will ask U.S. District Court Judge Raner Collins to order the state to come up with more cash. And he also wants the judge to bar the state from forcing schools to use new mandated teaching “models” — including four hours a day of English immersion classes — until the extra cash is in place.
But state School Superintendent Tom Horne said Collins already has accepted the models as acceptable, requiring only that the state provide adequate funding.
Collins did rule that the state can’t require schools to first use certain federal grants before qualifying for additional state aid. He also said a two-year limit on additional aid for any student is also illegal.
Horne said the funding formula takes both objections into account, meaning it complies with the judge’s order. And that will remain the case unless and until that is overturned on appeals.
And he said Collins never objected to another provision in the law which lets the state reduce additional funding by the amount of money schools already get from the state — an offset Hogan said is unacceptable.
“If he has an problem with the bill, it was his obligation to say it when he issued his first order so we could make the adjustments,” Horne said of the judge. “We’ve now acted in reliance on exactly what he said.”
How much more Hogan wants is unclear.
He said there is evidence the Nogales Unified School District, where the lawsuit first started, spends an average of $1,600 a year to educate its students classified as “English language learners.” These are youngsters with a different first language and who are not yet proficient in English.
Yet Hogan said the formula used by Horne to divvy up that $40.6 million gives Nogales no additional funds, based on the premise the district already has enough. Hogan said that directly runs afoul of Collins’ order that the state is responsible for the full cost.
Using Nogales’ spending as an example, Hogan could argue the state needs to chip in an additional $1,235 per student, or about $170 million.
That’s on top of the more than $50 million now divided up among districts.
School officials have their own idea: They submitted requests for additional funding in excess of $274 million, the requests that Horne pared to that $40.6 million figure.
Napolitano’s concerns about the legislation are different.
She pointed out that some districts are unhappy with being told that the only acceptable method of teaching English to those speaking other languages is four hours a day of immersion. The governor said questions include whether that is workable within a regular school curriculum “and whether such long absences from other academic pursuits, such as math and science classes, are in the students’ best interests.”
She called the funding “only a first step to providing Arizona’s children with a chance to read, write and speak English.”
Some of the opposition to additional funds has been tied up in the issue of illegal immigration.
The Pew Hispanic Center has concluded a majority of English learners are U.S. citizens. But it also found that a majority in these programs are here because of illegal immigration: Even if the youngsters themselves were born in this country, their parents are here illegally — and they would otherwise not be in Arizona schools.
Timeline of the case
1992 — Parents of students in Nogales Unified School District file suit.
2000 — A U.S. District Court judge rules the $150 extra per student being provided by the state is “arbitrary and capricious.”
2001 — Lawmakers boost the funding formula to $340, a figure that now stands with inflation adjustments at $365.
2002 — Judge rejects that figure to end the lawsuit, saying lawmakers provided no justification to show that is what is needed. He orders a cost study.
2004 — A study prepared says lawmakers need to add $1,200 to per-pupil funding.
January 2005 — Republican legislative leaders reject study conclusions as flawed.
May 2005 — Legislature adopts plan to boost firstyear funding but make all future dollars conditional on schools proving they need more; measure is vetoed.
December 2005 — A Judge gives state until Jan. 24 to enact a plan or face fines.
January 2006 — Lawmakers pass two plans in two days, both vetoed by governor; fines start at $500,000 a day.
February 2006 — Fines double, to $1 million a day, with cash set aside to eventually benefit English learner students.
March 2006 — Lawmakers adopt another plan; goveronor allows it to become law.
July 2006 — Federal appeals court in San Francisco hears arguments about whether Arizona now in compliance with the law.
August 2006 — Appellate judges send case back for hearing and consider changed circumstances; voids $21 million in fines.
March 22 — Judge rules state still not in compliance and gives legislators until the end of the session to fix the law.
June 21 — Legislative session ends without new measure.
July 6 — Attorney who represents parents asks judge to impose new sanctions to force lawmakers to come up with a funding plan that complies with federal law.
Oct. 11 — Judge again finds state in contempt, gives lawmakers until March 4 to adopt acceptable plan and provide funding.
Dec. 4 — Lawyers for Republican legislative leaders and state School Superintendent Tom Horne ask 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to conclude state in compliance with law and dismiss lawsuit.
Feb. 22 — Appellate panel says state plan legal only if no federal offset to state aid and no twoyear limit on special training.
March 3 — Horne tells lawmakers they need $40.6 million to comply with court order, a fraction of the $274.6 million districts requested.
March 4 — Deadline passes.
March 11 — Judge gives lawmakers until April 15 to finally fund instruction or face $2 million in daily fines.
Monday — Governor allows funding formula to take effect without her signature.
still... wrote on Apr 15, 2008 10:56 PM: