Arizona case on English learning approaching high-cost junction

With potentially high stakes for Arizona taxpayers and thousands of predominantly Latino students, a federal appeals court is being asked to decide whether the state has done enough to improve school programs for students learning English.

Lawyers for Republican legislative leaders are asking the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals to overturn a trial judge’s ruling last March that changes made to Arizona’s English Language Learning programs and funding don’t satisfy a 1974 federal mandate for equal educational opportunities for English-learning students.

The appeal cites changes made under a 2006 law that set the state on a course to require districts to pick and choose among a menu of state-drafted instruction models and get supplemental state funding depend on the district’s costs.”*

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