English-Language Learner Case Framed as Civil Rights Enforcement Issue Before Supreme Court

At a time when children with limited English skills are among the fastest-growing groups in public schools, the U.S. Supreme Court today will hear a case that could greatly impact the way states educate English-language learners.

On one side: Arizona’s top education official and legislative leaders. They want federal courts to release them from a 2000 consent decree that said their English-language learner (ELL) programs violated ELL students’ civil right to an equal education — because they were so underfunded they couldn’t effectively teach the students English or other subjects. They say Arizona has greatly improved its ELL programs, particularly in the Nogales district along the U.S.-Mexico border where the lawsuit got its start.

On the other: Miriam Flores, a Nogales mother who joined the suit in 1996 after her daughter’s grades dropped in the third grade, when bilingual classes shifted to English-only. Her daughter, also Miriam, is 22 now — far beyond the reach of the decision to be made by the Supreme Court justices.