[EDLING:1202] Judge orders state to start paying fines in English learning case

[Francis M Hult]

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/breakingnews/012706ell_fines_start

Tucson Citizen

PAUL DAVENPORT
The Associated Press

PHOENIX - A federal judge on Friday ordered the state to start paying $500,000 daily fines 
for missing a deadline to improve programs for students learning English and to place the 
money in a special state fund to benefit those students. 

U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins' order late Friday also set a 5 p.m. MST deadline 
Tuesday for submission of proposals by state officials and lawsuit plaintiffs on what to 
do with the money. "The court will then determine when, where and how the funds will be 
disbursed," Collins' order said. 

The $500,000 daily fines began accumulating Wednesday when Democratic Gov. Janet 
Napolitano vetoed the latest bill passed by the Republican-led Legislature to revamp 
English Language Learning programs and institute a new tax credit for businesses' 
donations for private school tuition grants. 

In a Dec. 16 order, Collins had ordered that the fines begin if the Legislature hadn't 
complied within 15 days after the Jan. 9 of the current legislative session. 

A 2000 court order by a different federal judge said current programs for approximately 
150,000 ELL students violated federal laws for equal opportunities in education. 
Napolitano and Republicans have been at odds for months over how to satisfy court orders 
resulting from a class-action lawsuit originally filed in 1992. 

Napolitano and plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit want the money distributed to public 
schools to benefit ELL students. 

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, an elected Republican who help drafted the 
vetoed legislation, agrees that the money should benefit ELL students but he said it 
should not be distributed until there is a resolution to the issue and a ruling on his 
pending appeal of Collins' December order imposing the fines and setting the 15-day 
deadline. 

Tony Malaj, a spokesman for state Treasurer David Petersen, said Petersen's office was 
scrambling late Friday to make arrangements to implement the order, including starting the 
process of hiring its own lawyers and determining what money in the treasury can be tapped 
to provide the needed dollars. 

As governor, Napolitano holds sway over the positions taken in the lawsuit by the Attorney 
General's Office. Malaj said the Attorney General's Office on Friday recommended that 
Petersen, an elected Republican, get his own representation at state expense. 

Petersen on Monday will ask the Legislature for an emergency appropriation to pay for the 
lawyers, according to Malaj. "We have no money in our budget to hire them," Malaj said. 

Collins issued his order late Friday afternoon and Malaj said "we're kind of stuck until 
Monday and on Monday everybody needs to have their tennis shoes on and be ready to go with 
this thing." 

The daily fines start at $500,000 a day, rise to $1 million after 30 days, to $1.5 million 
after an additional 30 days and to $2 million at the end of the session. 

Napolitano has said she vetoed the latest Republican bills because they do not provide the 
necessary improvements in ELL programs and because Republicans included a flawed new tax 
credit for business donations for private school tuition grants for ELL students. 

Republicans defended their approach, saying their bill improved accountability of public 
school programs while providing an incentive for improvement through competition with 
private schools.