Prensa Hispana, News Report, Posted: Jan 04, 2011

PHOENIX -- On his last day as Arizona School Superintendent, Tom Horne gave an ultimatum. The same day he handed over the baton to John Huppenthal, Horne demanded that the Tucson Unified School District comply with SB 2281 and eliminate all ethnic studies programs, reports Maritza Lizeth Félix for Prensa Hispana. If schools don’t meet the requirement, they could lose up to 10 percent of their budget.

On Jan. 1, the Arizona law SB 2281 went into effect, prohibiting ethnic studies classes in public schools. The law, signed by Gov. Jan Brewer last year, focuses primarily on the Chicano and Mexican-American studies taught to students in the district, most of whom are Latino.

"They have 60 days to remove these programs or file an appeal in Court, because if not, we are going to cut their budget by nearly or more than $15 million," said Horne, who is now Arizona’s attorney general.

Huppenthal, who became Arizona School Superintendent on Jan. 3, has not disclosed where he stands on the issue. For their part, Tucson education authorities say they will appeal the decision in court.