Judge Once More Rejects Law on Funding For ELLs in Arizona

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Judge Once More Rejects Law on Funding For ELLs in Arizona

By Mary Ann Zehr 鈥� April 03, 2007 1 min read

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Arizona

In 2000, the federal court had ruled that the legislature needed to come up with a plan to adequately fund such programs. On April 25, 2006, Judge Collins ruled that the law didn鈥檛 bear a 鈥渞ational relationship to the cost of providing ELL programs,鈥� according to court documents.

Last July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, in San Francisco, overturned the April 25 ruling and required the district judge to hold an 鈥渆videntiary hearing鈥� on the matter.

Judge Collins, of Tucson, held an eight-day hearing in January, but in his March 22 ruling came to the same conclusion as he had earlier鈥攖hat the law that increases to $444 from $365 the extra funds that schools get to teach each English-language learner is not adequate.

The legislature intends to appeal, said Barrett Marson, the press secretary for James P. Weiers, a Republican and the speaker of the Arizona House.

See other stories on education issues in Arizona. See data on Arizona鈥檚 public school system.

For background, previous stories, and Web links read .

Mary Ann Zehr

Mary Ann Zehr was an assistant editor for Education Week. Her beats included English-language learners, bilingual education, immigrants, dropouts, achievement-gap issues, and charter and private schools. She is the author of the blog .