Related articles:

Judge won't block state's course rules for charter schools Charter schools should operate by same rulesState officials want charter schools to meet public school requirements Charter schools win a round vs. Horne 42 schools fail fed assessment

Other articles by Daniel Scarpinato:

Redo budget, Brewer tells lawmakers Senate sends bill for Pima baseball-tax vote to Brewer Legislators OK change to Tucson elections Gov. Brewer follows through on veto threat, orders lawmakers to return GOP legislative leaders try to save budget deal Political notebook : Sanford letter had unfortunate timing Tax proposals stall action until Monday Two Minutes with a Lawmaker : Republican senator discusses liberty, gov't, air conditioning Political Notebook: Sanford letter 'bummer' for Ariz. think tankGOP leaders, Brewer have budget deal

General
A1 Communications
Cable Techs Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION

PHOENIX — A Tucson charter school that wants a judge to block the state from dictating when it teaches certain subjects contends a letter from federal officials is proof the state is overreaching its power.

A lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court in June charges state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and the state Board of Education lack legal authority to force them to align their teaching schedule with the ones imposed on traditional public schools.

The suit was filed by Basis Tucson and several other schools from the Phoenix area, which object to new state social-studies standards they say will disrupt and water down their current teaching methods.

The schools say the state has argued federal funding for the state would be lost if Arizona didn't require schools to follow set curriculum.

But replying last month to an inquiry from Clint Bolick, legal counsel for the schools, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Education said no federal funds would be lost if the schools don't align with state standards.

"Nothing in (federal law) specifically mandates a state to align its social studies curriculum on a grade-by-grade basis to state standards," the letter states. "Thus, any non-alignment of such curriculum to state standards would not be grounds for withholding Federal funds."

In fact, the letter says the federal government is actually prohibited from mandating, directing or controlling curriculum.

Bolick said the issue of federal funding has been Horne's "first line of defense," and the letter from the federal government proves the state cannot mandate curriculum.

"There is no federal mandate here, and that knocks out one of the pillars below the state's argument," said Bolick, director of the Goldwater Institute Center for Constitutional Litigation in Phoenix.

Horne says he never made that argument, and Bolick is confusing "curriculum" with "standards."

The charter schools involved in the suit are all high performing schools that say the state standards in social studies actually impair their efforts to be more rigorous than traditional public schools.

But charter schools also receive state funds and are required to test students the same way as traditional schools.

"All of these schools are excellent schools," Horne said. But he added that if these schools don't have to follow the standards, other charters, even those performing poorly, would also be able to avoid the mandates.

"The kids have to have the opportunity to learn that which they're being tested on," Horne said.

At Basis, labeled "excelling" by the state's performance system, all or nearly all of the students are meeting or exceeding the standards on Arizona's standardized AIMS test. It was also named as one of the nation's best public high schools by Newsweek Magazine.

"These schools are all ahead of the test's pace," Bolick said. "No one quarrels that the state has the right to test the schools, but its up to the charter schools to decide how to get there."

Bolick said the schools have been able "to get around" the state standards in other subjects thus far, even though they consider them illegal.

Teachers provide a review at the beginning of the year to cover the standards he said, then proceed to their normal curriculum. But the schools say social studies is more difficult because they prefer to teach U.S. history in different grades than the state is mandating.

A hearing in the case is scheduled in Phoenix on Monday.