State senators approved legislation aimed at the curbing the ethnic-studies program in Tucson Unified School District.
HB 2281 would make it illegal for a school district to have any courses or classes that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity “instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.” It also would ban classes that “promote resentment toward a race or class of people.”
Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, said the legislation is little more than a thinly disguised effort to quash a program TUSD officials have said was proven academically successful. According to TUSD officials, the program in the district’s Mexican-American studies department simply provides historical information, which conflicts with state School Superintendent Tom Horne’s assessment the program is promoting racial hatred and “ethnic chauvinism.”
— Legislators take aim anew at ethnic-studies programsWhat is going on in Arizona?
