por James J. Lyons
Hispanic Link News Service
Hours before relinquishing command of the Arizona State Department of Education and being sworn in as the state’s new Attorney General, Tom Horne issued his final education decree — that the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) must terminate its Mexican American Studies program or lose 10 percent of state funding, almost $15 million. Horne’s 12th-hour edict ended his eight-year tenure as Arizona’s education chief, a period marked by clashes with Hispanic parents and teachers and costly federal court litigation. Horne’s action was the latest in a long and highly-personal crusade against ethnic studies that some educators say smacks of state censorship and racist historical revisionism. Horne said his order was necessary to carry out a new Arizona law (House Bill 2281) which took effect on New Year’s Day.
The law prohibits a school district or charter school from including in its program any courses or classes that promote the overthrow of the United States government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group and/or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals. Although the Tucson school district offers all students the opportunity to take four ethnic studies classes — African American, Asian American, Mexican American and Native American Studies — he said he was acting only against the Mexican American program because it was the lone one he had received complaints against. Horne commented that any may run afoul of the new law, TUSD’s ethnic programs were developed as part of a plan to end a school desegregation court order. Horne was elected State Superintendent of Education in 2002 on a promise that he would vigorously enforce Proposition 203, a measure passed by state voters in 2000 banning bilingual education.
He kept his promise and led the development of a program under which all non-English-language background students who are limited in their English proficiency (LEP) must be instructed in special English-only classes, separate from other children, for a minimum of four hours per school day. Educators and researchers have challenged the effectiveness of Horne’s instructional program and the legality of the segregated English-only program, which is currently undergoing scrutiny by a Federal District Court in Tucson pursuant to a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision. Anticipating Horne’s action, TUSD board members held a special meeting on Dec. 30, passing their third resolution on the issue.
The resolution restates their support of the Mexican American Studies program and their commitment to abiding by the new state law. They sent Horne and the incoming state education superintendent a letter calling for “collaboration, not legal action.” TUSD superintendent John Pedicone issued a statement pointing out students who took the challenged course had higher test scores and were more than twice as likely to graduate and three times as likely to go on to college.
Horne’s successor as state superintendent, John Huppenthal, will decide whether to uphold Horne’s edict. If he does, the TUSD has vowed to appeal. Meanwhile, a federal court suit brought by 11 TUSD teachers and the ACLU challenging the constitutionality of House Bill 2181 under the free speech clause of the First Amendment is pending. Having moved up the political ladder to become Arizona’s chief law enforcement officer, Horne will now oversee enforcement and defense of the state’s controversial anti-immigrant law SB1070. He told a Phoenix FOX news station that he will also use his new position to end the TUSD Mexican American Studies course.
He stated: “I’ve never yet seen a school not come to compliance, or school district not come to compliance, when there was a threat to withhold funds. So, I am expecting that to happen here. If it didn’t, I think the school board would be recalled. The parents wouldn’t stand for it, for them to give up 10 percent of their entire budget just so they could be in defiance of state law.”
