A national organization is backing away from a study that it conducted for the Arizona Legislature, producing findings that suggested the state should dramatically increase its spending for instruction of students learning English.

Faced with a federal court order requiring the state to improve its programs, The Legislature contracted with the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) in 2003 for a study to determine the effective types of English-learning instruction and their costs.

Findings of a report submitted in January by NCSL, a Denver-based research and advocacy organization for state governments, pointed toward a quadrupling of state spending for special instruction of students whose primary language is not English.

However, the draft study drew immediate criticism from Republican legislative leaders who said it was incomplete and flawed and could not be used as guidance for legislation.

On June 17, shortly after Governor Napolitano proposed tripling spending on English-learning programs, House Speaker Jim Weiers’s office release a June 10 letter in which NCSL Executive Director William T. Pound said the contract and study were canceled.

“The contract was not performed to the specifications due to the inability to gather all of the relevant cost data,” Mr. Pound’s letter stated.

Mr. Pound’s also said NCSL “will not expect any further payment.” Legislative officials have said the state had previously paid $31,000 of the $238,000 owed to NCSL.

Mr. Pounds’ letter represents “a clear repudiation of the study,” Mr. Weiers’s spokesman Barrett Marson said June 18. “NCSL has agreed that their cost study fell short of what we had requested. NCSL would not have walked away from over $200,000 in owed money if it didn’t feel it had had not completed this job according to the contract.”

House Minority Leader Phil Lopes, D-27, said he did not consider Mr. Pound’s letter a repudiation of the study’s findings. “It is simply stating they may be incomplete,” he said.

Mr. Pound did not immediately returns calls.

Governor: Study Was Flawed

In a letter sent June 17 to Republican legislative leaders, Ms. Napolitano acknowledged that the NCSL study was flawed but said her proposed spending increase was “a well thought-out middle ground” that did not hinge on the NCSL or other studies alone.

Mr. Pound’s letter also said the Arizona Legislature would pay its full NCSL dues assessment in 2005. Mr. Marson said legislative leaders did not threaten to withhold the state’s dues to NCSL but that reducing the dues by the $31,000 already paid for the study had been discussed as a possible way to compensate the state.

The NCSL study said a panel of Arizona professionals who considered possible improvements and costs concluded it would require average per-student spending of $1,550 for English-learning instruction. A separate national panel called for an average of $1,730.

The state now provides districts with $355 for each English-learning student. Ms. Napolitano proposed spending $1,289 per student by the end of a three-year phase-in.

The state this year is spending approximately $60 million on English-learning instruction for some 161,300 students, according to the Legislature’s budget office.

Mr. Lopes said he hopes upcoming hearings planned by legislative Democrats would provide information on program costs.

Ms. Napolitano’s proposed legislation would replace a Republican bill she vetoed May 20. The veto effectively meant that the state missed a judge’s deadline for legislative action by the end of the 2005 regular session, which adjourned May 13.

The Republicans’ plan would have instituted a new cost-based grant program to provide supplementary funding to school districts and charter schools for English-learning instruction. On the other hand, Ms. Napolitano would retain the current approach of providing money based on a per-student formula though she would make that funding a separate category so spending could be tracked. —

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