US Supreme Court Rejects Claim that Federal Courts Lack Authority to Order State Legislatures to Increase Education Funding

REMANDS ARIZONA ELL FUNDING CASE

FOR FURTHER HEARINGS

In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court last week sent back for further hearings an Arizona English language learner funding case that has been pending in the federal courts for the past nine years.

In Horne v. Flores, the high court majority reversed a decision of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that had upheld a district court order finding the state in contempt for failing to follow the court’s previous orders to “establish a funding system that rationally related funding available to the actual costs of all elements of ELL instruction.” The dissenters would have upheld the lower court orders without any further hearings.