Students, Not Teachers, Can Fight Ban on Ethnic Studies
Students, Not Teachers, Can Fight Ban on Ethnic Studies
TUCSON, Ariz. (CN) - Two students who wanted to take classes in the Tucson Unified School District's embattled Mexican-American studies program can challenge a new Arizona law that bans teaching "ethnic solidarity," a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima made his ruling on the same day that the TUSD governing board voted 4-1 to scrap the program.
Arizona had promised to cut millions of dollars in state funding if the board had refused to do so. Board members said they would try to overhaul the program to make it comply with the law.
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal forced the board's hand last week when he ruled, for the second time since taking office last year, that the 12-year-old program violated a law passed by the state Legislature in 2010 that prohibits public school district's from offering classes that "promote resentment toward a race or class of people; are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group; or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/11/42963.htm
