Arizona's a "Hot Mess"

Here's the 411:
The 1992 court case, Flores v. Arizona, found the state's education funding was not good enough to "ensure that students overcame language barriers," and gave the state a mandate to fix the problem.

This December, a Judge ordered fines of $500,000 a day if lawmakers failed to uphold the Flores case and enact a law by January 25th that would help support English language learners(ELLs).

So, Jan 25th arrived and the Governor vetoed the proposed plan, twice. (In all fairness, Gov. Napolitano vetoed it because she didn't think it was enough money towards ELLs and it was a tax credit plan)

If it's not bad enough that our public officials cannot come up with an adequate funding plan for ELLs, there was also contention about what to do with the fines that have accumulated since the official deadline.
On Thursday, the judge ruled the money will be deposited and be used specifically for ELLs (the one piece of good news in all of this). However, the fines will continue to accrue due to a lack of signed legislation.

Here's where it gets worse: GOP leaders are hiring legal counsel to "defend them in the Flores case." Now, they are blaming the Governor for missing the deadline and want to sue.

And really, here's the worst part: The fact that Arizona's English language learner children, who are standing by waiting for the much needed help they deserve, have to wait awhile longer because their leaders are arguing over how much they're worth.