“We didn’t ask for a karaoke machine”

by David Safier

(TASL) It’s time to update the progress of the recent court ruling on ELL. Here’s what it boils down to:

Court: Fund ELL by March 4.
Horne: Screw you.

There’s a bit more to it than that, but not much.

When Horne was confronted with the March 4 deadline, he said he couldn’t comply because not all the school districts had submitted their requests for additional ELL funds.

The districts submitted their requests, which totaled $274 million. Horne said, Fine, I’ll give you $40 million. Or maybe $19 million.

Tucson School District originally asked for $43 million, then scaled that down to $6.5 million. Horne said, Fine, you get nothing.

Casa Grande Elementary District said it needed needed $2.4 million, which included hiring 29 more teachers. Horne said, Fine, I’ll give you $900,000 and 14 teachers.

Horne justified his stinginess by mentioning that one school district asked for a karaoke machine. “We didn’t ask for a karaoke machine,” the Casa Grande Superintendent said. “We asked for ordinary classroom costs.”

Next time I want to buy a car, I’m taking Tom Horne with me. He’ll get me a Mercedes for $19.95 and make them throw in a set Ginzu knives.

Horne and his Republican anti-education legislative friends want to take this all the way to the Supreme Court. They figure it’ll cost less to litigate than to educate.