English learner fines are dropped: Chip Scutari
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 25, 2006 12:00 AM
A federal appeals court gave legislative leaders and the state schools chief a major victory Thursday by wiping out $21 million in fines the state faced in a case involving the fate of 160,000 students who struggle to learn English.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled that English-learner students must pass the AIMS test to graduate from high school.
Raner Collins, a U.S. District Court judge in Tucson, had ordered Arizona to pay $21 million in fines because the Legislature and Gov. Janet Napolitano missed a deadline for a plan to help students who need assistance to learn English. Collins also ruled that the fines should be set aside for programs to help the children. Now that the fines have been erased, the money will be returned to state coffers.
