By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Daily Star
Declaring the law unconstitutional, a federal judge on Wednesday permanently blocked the state Department of Education from restricting “ethnic studies” programs in the Tucson Unified School District — or even demanding information from the school officials about what is being taught.
But it remains to be seen what changes the school board might enact now that the district has been freed from state oversight.
Judge Wallace Tashima said state lawmakers acted illegally in 2010 in making it illegal for any schools to have courses that promote the overthrow of the federal 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.”
