Latino Studies Program Is Too Divisive for Arizona

Tucson Unified School District's already battered Mexican-American studies program took what could be a knock-out hit Tuesday when an administrative law judge agreed that the program violates a new state law proscribing the promotion of racial division and ethnic solidarity.
Coursework in the Mexican-American studies program promote "social or political activism against the white people," the judge found.
Such ideology is illegal under a law passed by Arizona's Republican-led Legislature after it was championed by former Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, now state attorney general. The law prohibits public and charter schools in the state from offering 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, and advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."
In his bid to succeed Horne as schools superintendent last year, John Huppenthal campaigned against the popular Mexican-American studies (MAS) program, which Tucson's largest school district has offered for 12 years. An outside consulting group found otherwise, but Huppenthal declared the program to be in violation of the law once he was elected. READ MORE