Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

KAWC | By Howard Fischer, May 30, 2024
Capitol Media Services

PHOENIX — State schools chief Tom Horne has been ordered to pay more than $120,000 in legal fees over his unsuccessful bid to quash dual-language instruction in Arizona schools.

The new order comes more than two months after Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper ruled that Horne had no legal authority to force all Arizona schools to use only “structured English immersion” to teach the language to students who are not proficient.

More to the point, Cooper said nothing in state law even allowed Horne to go to court and ask her to declare that schools districts are violating a 2000 voter-approved measure dealing with English instruction. Any such right, she said, actually belongs to the state Board of Education.

Please read more here.

Also:

Judge dismisses State Superintendent’s English Language Learner suit 

Arizona Mirror, March 2024
A lawsuit launched by Arizona schools chief Tom Horne last year in the hopes of shutting down dual language instruction across the state was tossed out of court on Friday. 

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper, in a 14-page ruling, offered a blistering criticism of Horne’s complaint, repeatedly stating that the Superintendent of Public Instruction has no authority or standing under Arizona state law to challenge the teaching model. 

“Simply put, no Arizona statute grants the Superintendent an open-ended general grant of authority to sue,” she wrote. 

Please read more here.