Ariz. Raked Over the Coals in 9th Circuit for Banning Ethnic Studies
Arizona’s “discriminatory animus toward Mexican Americans” gave rise to its “vague and overbroad” ethnic-studies law, opponents told the 9th Circuit on Monday.
Passed in 2010 by the Arizona Legislature, the law prohibits the state’s public schools from teaching classes that “promote the overthrow of the United States government; promote resentment toward a race or class of people; are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group; or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”
The students challenging the law claim it was enacted primarily as a means to kill Tucson Unified School District’s (TUSD) Mexican-American Studies (MAS) program. An administrative law judge found the classes violated the law in 2011, and the district scrapped the curriculum under threat of a huge cut in funding.
More: Courthouse News Service