Howard Fischer/Capitol Media Services

PHOENIX - Arizona lawmakers need to spend more than $200 million more than they do now to properly fund programs to teach English to kids who come to school without that as their primary language, a new study has concluded.

The report by the National Conference of State Legislatures released Friday said the $355 per student the state now provides covers nowhere near the cost of properly doing the job. That was the same conclusion of a federal judge who ordered the study in the first place.

Instead, the report says spending needs to be boosted by an average of $1,195 for each of the approximately 175,000 students in Arizona schools who have limited English language skills. It also says that extra funding could be twice as much for some students in lower grades who have only limited grasp of English.

Tim Hogan, who represents parents who sued more than a dozen years ago, said the additional funds will provide smaller classes and better trained teachers. Hogan said he hoped this study finally convinces lawmakers to act.

"They've been dragging their feet for five years trying to figure out ways to avoid their funding obligation for these kids,'' he said.

"They want these kids to meet impossibly high standards,'' Hogan said. "But they've just refused to give them the resources they need to do it.''

A spokesman for Senate Republican leadership said lawmakers are studying the report. But Nick Simonetta said there is no guarantee additional funds will be forthcoming.

In fact, Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said lawmakers may defy the order issued last month by U.S. District Court Judge Raner Collins to come up with the cash by the end of this legislative session to properly fund programs to teach English.

Pearce, who heads a (cq-there are two) House Appropriations Committee, acknowledged the judge could withhold the $400 million a year the state gets in federal highway funds. But Pearce said he doubted Collins would do that.

"And when do you stand up for what's right?'' he said. Pearce said Collins has no right to tell lawmakers what is the right amount of cash necessary to teach English.

That's not true, said Hogan. He said federal law requires states to ensure that all students have adequate instruction in English.

Rep. Peter Rios, D-Dudleyville, said the study confirms the state has been short-changing its "English language learners.'' Rios said the Republicans who control the budget should not balk at getting kids to learn English, "especially now'' that Pearce and other Republicans want a constitutional amendment to have English declared the official language of the state.

"Let's also put some money where our mouth is,'' he said. He said providing more cash to teach English is "probably is the surest way of ensuring that English is the official language of the state, and ... making sure that every kid learns it and learns it well.''

But the funding problem is not limited to Republicans. The proposed budget submitted by Gov. Janet Napolitano also has no cash to comply with order even though the governor was aware the court-ordered study was going to be completed. And her budget does not have that much extra cash for contingencies.

Jeanine L'Ecuyer, the governor's press aide, said Napolitano will read the report and "make the appropriate decisions.''

Assuming lawmakers do not ignore the order, that could force them to cut spending on other discretionary programs which no one will identify at this point. Both Rios and Pearce agreed that a tax hike is a political non-starter.

Rios said there is another option: Defray close to $200 million of state obligations for school due next fiscal year into the following year. That makes more cash available, at least on paper.

He conceded it is only a temporary solution. But he said it provides "breathing room'' to find a permanent funding source.

The study comes five years after a different federal judge who was handling the case ruled the $150 per pupil in additional aid the state provided for students with limited English skills was "arbitrary and capricious,'' with no bearing on actual cost.

Lawmakers subsequently voted to increase that, with the current figure standing at about $355. But the judge rejected that in 2002 because it was not based on any actual data of the real cost. He ordered them to perform a cost study.

A different NCSL cost study last year also concluded the state needs to spend close to $200 million more. But House Majority Leader Steve Tully dismissed that report as flawed, resulting in the revised report released Friday.