Sanity prevails.
(Arizona Republic) — Acting on a new state law, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal has condemned the Tucson Unified School District’s controversial Mexican-American studies courses and warned the district could lose a portion of its state funding if it does not comply with the law within 60 days.
Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law last year. It bans classes in kindergarten to 12th grade that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed primarily for pupils of one ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity.
School districts found in violation have 60 days to comply or they may lose 10 percent of their state funding.
The Tucson district stands to lose around $15 million, Arizona Department of Education officials said.
On Jan. 1, the day the law went into effect, outgoing state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne announced the courses violated the new law and should be axed. Horne had lobbied for three years for the legislation.
Days after Horne became state attorney general, Huppenthal took over as state superintendent and ordered an audit of the program. Auditors reported these findings:
- Texts and other materials for the junior-level courses referenced White people as “oppressors” and “oppressing” Latino people.
- The department’s website “clearly indicates the program is primarily designed for pupils of a particular ethnic race; couple this with the fact that an extraordinary percentage of students enrolled in program classes are Hispanic (over 90 percent).”
- “Curriculum and materials repeatedly emphasize the importance of building Hispanic nationalism and unity in the face of assimilation and oppression.”