California students will need to take ethnic studies to graduate

SACRAMENTO – California will require students to take an ethnic studies course to graduate from high school under a bill signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday, and is believed to be the first State to impose such courses.

The new law comes after a year in which California leaders and activists have focused more on racial justice after the police murder of George Floyd in May 2020 in Minneapolis. It also comes as conservatives across the country challenged K-12 classes on systemic racism and protested at school board meetings against “critical race theory.”

High school students will not be required to take courses for graduation until 2029, while schools will be required to offer ethnic studies courses from 2025, giving districts and education officials the time to fully develop their courses. The program has been the subject of intense debate as some ethnic groups have expressed concerns about how their history will be taught.

Newsom’s office on Friday highlighted research from Stanford University that shows ethnic studies “help expand educational opportunities in schools, teach students about the diverse communities that make up California, and drive engagement and results. school “.

The state took several years to develop a model ethnic studies curriculum and drew criticism from the Jewish Legislative Caucus, which said the first draft omitted their full story. Schools will still be able to locally develop their own plan under Assembly Bill 101.

The bill calls on districts to consider the “long, thorough, deliberative and inclusive process” the National Board of Education has undertaken to create a framework for the curriculum, but allows schools to develop their own plans. ‘It is approved by a local school board subject to public hearings. .

The state’s Ethnic Studies Framework, approved in March, promotes “social awareness” and will tackle “institutionalized benefit systems” and forms of fanaticism, including anti-darkness, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

The bill’s author, Assembly Member Jose Medina (D-Riverside), has repeatedly pushed for legislation on ethnic studies to no avail. Newsom vetoed a similar bill last year, saying that while he agreed with the mission, he feared the program would remain “insufficiently balanced” after concerns. Jewish and Arab-American organizations.

Former Gov. Jerry Brown also vetoed an attempt in 2018, saying that while it values ​​ethnic studies, schools can already offer it themselves without a warrant.

The long delay in implementation reflects potential logistical and policy challenges related to course development and their mandate for graduation. The bill “provides a number of guarantees to ensure that classes will be free from bias or bigotry and appropriate for all students,” Newsom officials said in a statement.

“I want to thank the countless young people, high school and college students, teachers and professors, who organized, demonstrated, boycotted classes and started hunger strikes to demand a more equitable and inclusive education system,” Medina said in a statement. . “The signing of AB 101 today is a step in the long struggle for equal education for all students. “