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If rules apply to one public school, they should apply to all schools. Or so goes the reasoning of the Arizona Department of Education.

The department is being sued by a group of charter schools that contend the state can't tell them when to teach particular topics in social studies class.

The schools, which include BASIS charter school in Tucson, say that neither Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne nor the state Board of Education has the authority to force them to teach specific lessons.

They're fighting against Arizona state academic standards that outline which topics should be covered in which grade. Traditional public schools must follow the guidelines and Horne argues that, as Arizona public schools, charters must, too.

The standards are outlined at the ADE Web site (www.ade.state.az.us).

For example, in the section titled "Revolution & a New Nation" kindergartners are supposed to learn that George Washington was the first U.S. president. Second-graders will learn that colonists and American Indians lived in the area of the Thirteen Colonies. By fifth grade, students are getting into more detail, like the Declaration of Independence and the battles of Lexington, Concord and Saratoga.

The charter school movement was founded on a belief that schools should be free to experiment and do what they think is best in the classroom. Arizona has been a laboratory for charter schools, and schools like BASIS have proved themselves as high-achieving institutions with tough, college-level curricula.

Horne says the charters confuse curriculum with standards. The state isn't telling the charter schools how to teach, just at which grade level some important social studies topics should be covered — how they do it is up to each school. The standards were created by a statewide group, including charter schools.

Horne said an alternate to the grade-level guidelines in the standards might be reasonable, but that these schools didn't raise their concerns when the standards were being written.

Exempting schools from social studies standards because students from this group of schools do well opens the door for any school to argue that it shouldn't have to follow the academic guidelines, either.

Charter schools receive public money. The freedom to experiment shouldn't exempt those schools from playing by the same rules as every other public school in Arizona.