On Friday, the Arizona Department of Education notified the Tucson Unified School District that its Mexican-American studies program runs afoul of a state law banning coursework promoting the overthrow of the United States government, racial resentment and ethnic solidarity.
State officials informed the Tucson school district that it must modify the coursework by March 4, 2015 or risk losing 10 percent of its state-provided education funding, the Arizona Daily Independent reports.
State legislators in Arizona have long criticized Tucson’s notorious Mexican-American studies program.
In 2010, the state of Arizona passed a law aimed against coursework endorsing the overthrow of the United States government and stoking resentment toward races or classes of people.
In a later lawsuit concerning that law, two federal judges including Clinton appointee A. Wallace Tashima ruled that the Tucson Mexican-American studies program did, indeed, promote “racial resentment against ‘Whites.'” Tashima also held that elected officials could constitutionally make laws against the teaching of racial resentment. (RELATED: Federal Judge: Arizona Can Ban Classes Promoting ‘Racial Resentment Against ‘Whites’)
In 2013, Tucson’s school board voted to bring back the very books that teachers used in the judicially smacked-down Mexican-American studies program. The texts requested by teachers included “Occupied America,” “Message to Aztlan” and “Chicano!” (RELATED: Tucson School District Just Can’t Quit Racist Curriculum)
You can view some example class materials as they were modified after Tashima’s ruling here (courtesy of the Daily Independent).
The state Department of Education sent the notice of noncompliance on outgoing Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal’s last day of office.
“I have been closely monitoring the status of the Tucson Unified School District’s culturally relevant curricula to ensure that all TUSD students, regardless of their race or ethnic background, have access to a high quality education,” Huppenthal said in a statement.
The Tucson school district is “once again in clear violation” of Arizona law, the superintendent said.
“I am deeply concerned by the fact that the noncompliance appears to extend beyond classes taught from the Mexican American perspective and now also includes classes taught from the African American perspective,” he added.
The state Department of Education’s notice to the Tucson school district is stern and very lengthy. It describes the Mexican-American studies program as “a program in disarray, with insufficient support for teachers, inadequate teaching to students and little transparency for parents and community members.”
In the myriad details of the notice, state officials criticize a Mexican-American studies teacher at Cholla High Magnet School for using lyrics from a song by rap-metal band Rage Against the Machine called “Take the Power Back.” (RELATED: Rage Against The Cuisine: Tom Morello Blasts Seattle Cafe For Making Him Wait In Line)Another teacher utilized an essay about washed-up rapper KRS-One’s music in a class called “Culturally Relevant African-American Perspective.”
In another class, the teacher required students to stand to recite “Lak’Ech and the four Texcatlipocas every day.”
Lak’Ech is presumably “In Lak’Ech,” a New Age, Mayan-related poem that has nothing to do with actual Mayas. The title translates to “I Am You” or “You Are Me,” or “You Are My Other Me.”
“Texcatlipocas” would appear to related to the gods in the pantheon of Aztec mythology.
Some Tucson educators certainly weren’t shy about their scheme to bring back the very curriculum that the state government had outlawed and that, at least two federal judges had agreed, promotes “racial resentment against ‘Whites.'”
Augustine Romero, principal of Pueblo Magnet High School, boldly claimed on camera at this summer’s National Association for Multicultural Education that Tucson’s Mexican-American studies program had returned essentially unchanged from when it was found to violate Arizona law.
Romero also cussed at a parent, yelled abusively at teachers and almost got into a fist fight before being escorted out of the conference at the glitzy, four-star Hilton Tucson El Conquistador Golf & Tennis Resort, according to the website Three Sonorans.
In addition to Romero, Communist revolutionary terrorist Bill Ayers and his obscure brother, Rick, were conference guests. Attendees luxuriated amid a relaxing atmosphere in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Perks of the resort include four swimming pools, four restaurants and “45 holes of championship golf and 31 tennis courts.” (RELATED: Terrorist Mars Confab Of Radical Professors At Swanky Resort)
Below is video of Romero’s bluster.
WATCH:
Follow Eric on Twitter. Like Eric on Facebook. Send education-related story tips to erico@dailycaller.com.