More than 1 out of every 8
students (13 percent) in Arizona is an ELL student. In fiscal year 2006, school
districts reported having 128,858 ELL students, and charter schools reported
having 4,632. More than one-half of ELL students are in Kindergarten through
grade 3, more than a third are in grades 4-8, and 13 percent are in high school.
In 1992, parents of students at Nogales Unified School District sued the State
in U.S. District Court. They alleged, in Flores v. State of Arizona, that the
State failed to provide programs that would help limited English proficient
students become proficient in speaking, understanding, reading, and writing
English. In January 2000, the District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.
In December 2001, the Legislature passed House Bill (HB) 2010, which increased
the ELL per-pupil funding to about $320 and provided an additional $50 million
for several new ELL-related programs.
In January 2005, the District
Court again ordered the State to comply with the January 2000 ruling to
adequately fund ELL programs. Subsequently, in March 2006, the Legislature
passed HB 2064, proposing to increase ELL per-pupil funding to about $420 per
year, providing $10 million for ELL Compensatory Instruction and establishing a
system for developing Structured English Immersion program models and related
budget requests to fund them. Because the District Court did not accept the new
law, the per-pupil funding increase did not go into effect. As of April 2007,
key provisions of HB 2064 were still being implemented, including developing the
Structured English Immersion instruction models and budgets and allocating the
Compensatory Instruction monies.
School districts and charters
also receive various federal and local monies for ELL purposes, such as federal
Title III and desegregation monies.
Prior to July 1, 2006, school
districts were not required to account for their ELL costs, but could choose to
do so. This report summarizes these available monies and expenditures from them
during fiscal years 2002 through 2006. The report also contains one-page
information sheets on the ELL programs and spending of the 28 school districts
monitored by the Arizona Department of Education during fiscal year 2007.
