PHOENIX — A federal judge agreed Tuesday to give lawmakers five more weeks to adopt funding for English learner programs — but with a penalty if they let that deadline slip.
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And he agreed that lawmakers need additional the time to digest the report submitted to them March 3 by state School Superintendent Tom Horne saying individual districts need an additional $40.6 million a year in state funds to properly teach English to students who come to school speaking other languages.
But Collins, in his two-page order, showed he is running out of patience with the state, which now has been under court order for eight years to properly fund the English instruction programs: He said each day they go beyond April 15 will cost Arizona $2 million in fines.
And Collins said if they hit May 15 without funding, those daily fines will go up to $5 million.
House Majority Leader Tom Boone, R-Peoria, said he was pleased by the ruling and promised the Legislature will meet the April 15 deadline, which is just three days short of the additional time lawmakers had sought. But Boone said the measure will be structured so the state could end up paying only half that amount.
Boone and Horne believe schools should be forced to first use certain federal aid they are getting before tapping the state treasury. If that offset is allowed, the actual cost to Arizona taxpayers would be less than $20 million.
So far, though, both Collins and a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have rejected that contention. But attorneys for the state are asking the full appellate court to reconsider.
Boone said any legislation would spell out that if the state wins that argument, the extra dollars are not given out.
Tuesday’s order came over the objections of Tim Hogan who represents the parents who first sued in 1992 over questions of adequacy of funding. He had asked Collins to force lawmakers to have the additional funding in place by next Tuesday, two weeks after the judge’s original deadline.
Hogan said that $40.6 million is not enough for Arizona to meet its obligations under federal law to ensure all 130,000 students classified as “English language learners’’ have an opportunity to learn English. He wants that first cash distribution to take place as soon as possible so he can then go back to court and ask Collins to order lawmakers to come up with more.
Collins has imposed fines in the past, assessing the state $21 million in 2006 for missing an earlier deadline. But those penalties never were collected after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said he first should have given the state a chance to show how conditions have changed since it was first found in violation of the law in 2000.
Collins did provide that hearing and concluded Arizona was still not meeting its legal obligations.
Since that time, though, he accepted arguments by lawyers for Horne and GOP leaders that they are coming up with new “teaching models’’ for English language learners and, once that is done, they will provide the funding.
Those models, adopted last year, consist largely of placing students who are not proficient in English into special classes four hours each day of “immersion’’ learning.
School districts put in $274.6 million in funding requests, which Horne pared to $40.6 million — and less than $19.3 million if federal funds can be considered.
And while Hogan and Horne
disagree over the adequacy of that financing, both agree that
unless and until Collins’ order is overturned, the state is
legally obligated now to come up with at least that $40.6
million.
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1992 — Parents of students in Nogales Unified School District
file suit, saying the extra state funding for English learners is
insufficient to comply with federal law.
2000 — U.S. District Court Judge Alfredo Marquez rules the $150
extra per student being provided by the state is “arbitrary and
capricious.’’
2001 — Lawmakers boost the funding formula to $340, a figure
that now stands with inflation adjustments at $365.
2002 — Marquez rejects that figure to end the lawsuit, saying
lawmakers provided no justification to show that is what is
needed. He orders a cost study.
August 2004 — A study prepared by the National Conference of
State Legislatures says lawmakers need to add about $1,200 to
per-pupil funding to do the job.
January 2005 — Republican legislative leaders reject study
conclusions as flawed.
May 2005 — Legislature adopts plan to boost first-year funding
but make all future dollars conditional on schools proving they
need more; measure is vetoed.
December 2005 — Judge Raner Collins gives state until Jan. 24 to
enact acceptable plan or face daily fines.
January 2006 — Lawmakers pass two plans in two days, both vetoed
by governor; fines start at $500,000 a day.
February 2006 — Fines double, to $1 million a day, with cash set
aside to eventually benefit English learner students.
March 2006 — Lawmakers adopt another plan; Gov. Janet Napolitano
allows it to become law without her signature.
July 2006 — Federal appeals court in San Francisco hears
arguments about whether Arizona now in compliance with the law.
August 2006 — Appellate judges send case back to Collins to
conduct hearing and consider changed circumstances since 2000;
void $21 million in fines.
March 22 — Collins rules state still not in compliance and gives
legislators until the end of the session to fix the law.
June 21 — Legislative session ends without new measure.
July 6 — Attorney Tim Hogan who represents parents asks Collins
to impose new sanctions to force lawmakers to come up with a
funding plan that complies with federal law.
Oct. 11 — Collins again finds state in contempt, gives lawmakers
until March 4 to adopt acceptable plan and provide funding.
Dec. 4 — Lawyers for Republican legislative leaders and state
School Superintendent Tom Horne ask 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals to conclude state in compliance with law and dismiss
lawsuit.
Feb. 22 — Appellate panel says state plan legal only if no
federal offset to state aid and no two-year limit on special
training.
March 3 — Horne tells lawmakers they need $40.6 million to
comply with court order.
March 4 — Collins’ original deadline passes without action.
Tuesday — Collins gives lawmakers until April 15 to finally fund
instruction or face $2 million in daily fines.
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