[EDLING:208] Arizona: English Language Learning Programs

[Francis M. Hult]

AZ Central

Lawmakers set to end session despite court order

PHOENIX - Arizona legislators are on track to enter potentially risky and 
costly legal territory as they near the end of their current annual session 
without complying with a federal judge's order to revamp programs for students 
learning the English language.

U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins ruled March 22 that lawmakers have until 
the end of the session to comply with another judge's 2000 order to provide 
adequate funding for English Language Learning programs.

Legislation enacted in 2006 to replace the state's current method of extra per-
student funding for ELL students with a new system based on state funding for 
new instructional models remained "arbitrary and capricious" without providing 
dollars needed to ensure that the 135,000 ELL students master the state's 
academic standards, Collins ruled. 

Full story:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0610xgrON.html