February 4, 2011
Photo: AZPM
The TUSD ethnic studies program remains a source of controversy.
On May 12, 2010, Tucson Unified School District ethnic studies supporters converged at district headquarters and the Arizona State Building to protest then-Superintendent of Public Instruction (now Attorney General) Tom Horne’s appearance in Tucson.
It was one of his final publicized visits to Tucson, and it was to announce TUSD’s Mexican American Studies Program was in violation of bill "hb 2281."
Horne had pushed for the bill since 2007, when civil rights advocate Dolores Huerta stated that Republicans hate Latinos while speaking at Tucson High School. His visit to Tucson came after the governor had just signed the bill into law.
The law, known as A.R.S. 15-112, went into effect January 1st. The law prohibits courses that: promote the overthrow of the U.S. government; promote resentment toward a race or class of people; are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group; or advocate ethnic solidarity.
Horne declared TUSD in violation on January 3rd, his last day as Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Richard Martinez is an attorney representing eleven Mexican-American Studies educators who have filed a lawsuit against Horne and the State Department of Education.
He says TUSD currently operates several ethnic studies programs that include Pan Asian Studies, African American Studies, and Native American Studies; he points out this law is itself discriminatory in that it is being targeted at one specific group or program in the cohort, and not all of them.
Judy Burns is a member of the TUSD board, and she says that while the threat of losing $15 million in funding per year is a difficult prospect to face, “we are not closing down the program.”
Burns points out that the state has already cut “$70 million dollars from TUSD’s budget, and so we’re already at bare bones.”
She says the district serves a student population that is up to 68 percent Latino, and she’s seen positive results from the Mexican American Studies program, which is open to all students in the district in the form of electives.
“We’ve had tremendous success with the program: we see the kids graduate at a higher rate, they do better in testing, and they go on to higher education," she says. These are the goals for all kids, she adds, and this program is seen as a positive force in fulfilling this mission.
Burns says the TUSD’s Mexican American Studies program is in compliance with the new law, and at the moment they will not be joining the existing lawsuit filed by the eleven educators.
Adelita Grijalva, also a member of the TUSD Board, says she recognizes that--despite its successes and broad support from educators, parents and students--the program is in great danger.
“We’re going to have an administrative hearing to ask how are we not in compliance, and how was this determined,” she says.
Grijalva says if the administrative hearing is unsuccessful, she will advocate going to court on the “constitutionality and the vagueness of the law.”
“There is no litmus test to determine whether we’re in compliance or not in compliance” she says.
John Huppenthal is the new Superintendent of Public Instruction, and by law the decision to deem the program compliant or non-compliant rests solely on him.
Repeated requests for comments from Huppenthal have not been granted, but TUSD Board member Judy Burns thinks he’ll back Horne’s decisions, and he has made a statement on the [Arizona Department of Education web site] indicating as much.
“I was there when Huppenthal visited one of the ethnic studies classes, and he didn’t seem to understand what the kids were telling him,” she said.
Huppenthal indeed visited a Mexican-American Studies class; Horne never did, though he held the superintendency for eight years.
Huppenthal has also acknowledged giving Horne the go-ahead to make the declaration against TUSD, saying he told him, "If you're going to shoot, you better not miss - the case needs to hold up in a court of law." He also stated "my concerns are so deep about Tucson Unified that anything I can do to increase the pressure to mend their ways I'm very likely to do."
Grijalva says that if push comes to shove she can’t choose to keep the program if it means the loss of $15 million a year. “We can't close enough schools to make that up,” she says.
Former State Public Instruction Superintendent Tom Horne states his case for the passage of HB 2281.
Tom Horne is now Attorney General, and he’s in the position to follow through on the statement he made in Tucson May 12, when he said he felt the classes “should end completely.”
It’s clear Horne’s rhetoric against TUSD’s Mexican American Studies Program has gained traction in parts of the state. However, the legal battle is still young, and some supporters of ethnic studies, like Attorney Richard Martinez, point out that an ironic result of Tom Horne’s crusade against ethnic studies is that it has fostered a certain amount of solidarity.
Martinez says “all groups have, as a component of their identity, solidarity.”
“If Mexicans have pride in being Mexican and Latinos take pride in being Latinos, and (Horne) takes offense to that then that’s his problem,” Martinez states, “and now he’s made it into a legal problem.”
The legal problem created by the law could take years to resolve, Martinez says, and he points out TUSD could be added to the list of defendants in the lawsuit against the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Department of Education.
Read Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal's official statement concerning the TUSD Mexican American Studies Department: View at Google Docs | Download File
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