Thread: Special Ed for Illegal Immigrants Sparks Costly Veto

Special Ed for Illegal Immigrants Sparks Costly Veto
By John Turner Gilliland
CNSNews.com Correspondent
January 27, 2006

(CNSNews.com) -- Arizona must now shell out half-a-million-dollars-a-day in federal fines as a result of Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano's veto -- the second in two days -- of legislation to fund the state's English Language Learner (ELL) program. ELL is used to help immigrant students transition from their native language to English.

Following her first veto, the governor called state lawmakers into special session to re-address the funding of the program, the deadline of which had already been established by U.S. District Judge Raner Collins.

But Napolitano vetoed a revised version of the bill Wednesday, stating that the ELL program was under-funded by the Republican-led legislature and that it set no cap on corporate tuition tax credits.

One of Napolitano's political opponents, Republican House Speaker Jim Weiers issued a blunt reaction, telling reporters that the governor "needs to remember that she was elected governor. She wasn't elected dictator."

In a letter to legislative leaders, Napolitano said she vetoed the revised measure because it was poorly written and because the tax credits would have been unlimited and were unrelated to the reason she had called the special session in the first place.

"Remarkably this bill actually allows for more funds to go toward ELL education in private schools than it does for such education in our public schools," Napolitano said Wednesday.

She also took a shot at the Republicans, noting that she remained "disappointed that the legislature did not take seriously the need to reach a compromise bill to satisfy the requirements of the court's order in Flores V. State of Arizona before sanctions against the state are imposed."

Had Napolitano signed it, the bill would have capped corporate tuition tax credits at $50 million and would have provided about $30 million to teach kids English. But it fell far short of the $180 million the Democrats wanted.

Now the state will have to pay fines, beginning at $500,000-a-day. But they could eventually reach $2 million per day if an acceptable bill is not signed into law and presented to Judge Collins by the end of the legislative session. Napolitano has already asked Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard to ask Collins to redirect any fines imposed on the state back into English language learning programs.

The controversy over illegal immigration is at the core of the ELL funding problem, with many Arizona taxpayers opposing the idea of educating the children of illegal immigrants. Nearly one out of every seven children in Arizona public schools is illegally residing in the U.S. and the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that the total may be as high as 60,000.

Tim Hogan is the lead plaintiff's lawyer in the Flores case. He said that aside from the federal money spent on the program, Arizona needs to spend about $210 million a year or about $1,000 per child to help students learn English and get a good education. Those figures were reported in a court-ordered cost study last February. The state currently spends about $355 per child on students trying to learn English.
Republican legislative leaders say that despite the state's $700 billion surplus, the estimated cost of ELL education in Arizona is unaffordable for taxpayers. Weiers remarked that "under the governor's proposal, [Arizona] now becomes Mexico's best school district north of the border." State Senate president Ken Bennett said he would not support giving schools more money without some kind of verification that the money was needed and would be wisely spent.

Others see a darker reason for the Republican legislative actions.

Salvador Gabaldon, a bilingual education specialist with the Tucson Unified School District, said that similar to the voter-approved Proposition 203, which severely restricts the availability of bilingual instruction to Arizona students, there is a racial or anti-immigrant flavor to the debate.

"I've seen how the parents of limited English students are treated. I don't know how to say it politely, but there is something racial about it," Gabaldon said.

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2006/january ... als1.shtml

"I've seen how the parents of limited English students are treated. I don't know how to say it politely, but there is something racial about it," Gabaldon said.

OH Piffle!! What drivel!! How often do they think the 'race' card is gonna work? The people of Arizona do not owe an education to the illegals in their midst. Let's try being fair to the American taxpayer...just for a change...we'd all faint, of course.

RR

Originally Posted by RoadRunner

"I've seen how the parents of limited English students are treated. I don't know how to say it politely, but there is something racial about it," Gabaldon said.

OH Piffle!! What drivel!! How often do they think the 'race' card is gonna work? The people of Arizona do not owe an education to the illegals in their midst. Let's try being fair to the American taxpayer...just for a change...we'd all faint, of course.

RR

I don't think the American people owe illegals anything period.