By: Ryan Santistevan, The Republic | azcentral.com ~ July 3, 2017
Seven years ago the Arizona Legislature passed a law banning Tucson public schools' Mexican-American Studies program.
The furious debate over House Bill 2281 continues as a lawsuit alleging portions of it were discriminatory is playing out in federal court in Tucson. The trial, which began last week, resumes July 17.
Tom Horne, who was state schools superintendent at the time, and John Huppenthal, then a state senator, drafted the bill in 2010. (Horne would later become Arizona attorney general and Huppenthal would replace him as state superintendent.)
The bill, signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer, states that a school district or charter school in Arizona cannot offer instruction that promotes the overthrow of the U.S. government or resentment toward a race or class of people. It also banned courses designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group or that advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treating pupils as individuals.
The ban on courses designed for pupils of a particular ethic group was ruled to be unconstitutional but "severable from the rest of the statute."
The plaintiff in the current case is Maya Arce, a student at the University of Arizona. The defendants are Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas, the Arizona State Board of Education and members of the Arizona State Board of Education.
Although there are other ethnic studies classes in the Tucson district, the Mexican-American Studies program was the only one found to break the new law.
Hours before he was inaugurated as attorney general, Horne announced the school district had violated the law. It was then left to Huppenthal to decide whether to withhold state funding from the district.
The course had been created in 1997 after a group of Tucson Unified School District parents filed a race-discrimination lawsuit over the lack of a Hispanic studies department.
In 2012, the Tucson Unified School District School Board voted to ban the Mexican American Studies program, otherwise it would have lost 10 percent of its state funding.
If Arce prevails, Huppenthal's decision that the Mexican American Studies program violated HB 2281 would be voided.
Stefanie Boe, Tucson Unified School District spokeswoman, said regardless of the outcome, nothing will change at the district.
The district has a culturally relevant curriculum that has been approved by state Superintendent Diane Douglas and her team, Boe said.
"We are in compliance with state law while still bringing a multicultural approach to learning," Boe said. "We don’t need to change. We found a way to work with the state and meet the obligations of our court order at the same time."
Source: AZCentral
