PHOENIX, May 12 (UPI) -- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed, without comment, a bill restricting the types of ethnic courses schools can offer students.
The legislation signed Tuesday says students "should be taught to treat and value each other as individuals and not be taught to resent or hate other races or classes of people," Capital Media Services reported Wednesday. Its provisions makes it illegal for public schools to offer courses or classes that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people or "designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group."
The law leaves the final decision to the state Board of Education or the state school superintendent, who could withhold up to 10 percent of a school's state aid for violations. It also bars schools from having disciplinary rules based on race, ethnicity, religion, sex or national origin, also punishable by a 10 percent loss in state aid.
The law specifically targets the ethnic studies program at Tucson Unified School District, the news service said. School district officials said nothing they were doing violates the law, which takes effect at the end of the year.
Brewer recently signed controversial legislation that, among other things, makes it a crime to be in the state illegally and requires law enforcement officers to check the legal status of people they suspect are undocumented.
