Sunday, December 18, 2005

Feds Give Arizona Ultimatum: Teach English to Illegal Aliens or Pay $500k a Day

And, if you still don't comply, we'll bump it up to $1 million a day, and then $1.5 million a day (oh, and even if they can't speak english, give them a diploma anyway)...

Deadline Set for English Funding

A federal judge on Friday gave the state 15 days after the legislative session begins in January to finally comply with his order to properly fund English-learner programs or face fines of $500,000 per day.

The judge also ruled that English learners do not have to pass Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards to receive high school diplomas. The class of 2006 includes about 4,000 English learners, and about 1,400 failed at least one portion of AIMS on their first three tries.

U.S. District Judge Raner Collins’ order makes it clear he is running out of patience with lawmakers: The $500,000 daily penalty starts if there is no resolution by Jan. 24. Failure to act by Feb. 23 would boost the penalty to $1 million a day, and the daily penalty would bump to $1.5 million one month after that.

Read about another denial of states rights in The East Valley Tribune.