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  • Ethnic studies standards can’t save California’s deeply flawed mandate

    Ethnic studies standards can’t save California’s deeply flawed mandate


    Alison Yin / EdSource

    Members of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus recently introduced a new bill (AB 1468) to address concerns that the state’s new ethnic studies mandate has been and will continue to be used as a vehicle for sneaking dangerous antisemitism and anti-Israel content into our classrooms. Unfortunately, AB 1468 will only serve to exacerbate, rather than mitigate, these concerns.

    In 2021, California became the first state to require an ethnic studies course for high school graduation with the passage of AB 101. Despite good intentions, this mandate has been plagued by fundamental and unresolved problems. Chief among them is that it allows school districts to choose their own curriculum, leading many to adopt materials and training from consulting groups such as the Liberated Ethnic Studies Consortium, which promote a highly politicized approach to ethnic studies, exacerbating concerns about classroom bias and antisemitism.

    Recognizing this looming threat and knowing that content standards are required for all other California courses required for high school graduation, the Jewish legislators have introduced a bill to establish state-approved standards to prevent antisemitic content and ensure ethnic studies is taught in a way that respects all communities.

    The lack of content standards, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. Far more troubling is the absence of any consensus on what kind of subject ethnic studies even is. Some proponents view it as an inclusive, objective examination of the history, culture and contributions of various ethnic groups in the state. This understanding appears to have guided California legislators in passing the ethnic studies mandate with AB 101, whose author stated, “California is one of the most diverse states in the country, and we should celebrate that diversity by teaching a curriculum that is inclusive of all of our cultures and backgrounds.”

    Others, however, hold a radically different view. They believe high school ethnic studies should replicate the university-level discipline, which focuses primarily on four racial groups and is rooted in ideologically driven frameworks that emphasize systemic oppression and promote political activism, often incorporating antisemitic content. This approach, championed by state university ethnic studies faculty, teachers unions and Liberated consulting groups, has infiltrated many school districts.

    The lack of consensus about the very nature of ethnic studies has led to fierce battles over curricula, which have played out in contentious school board meetings and costly legal challenges, underscoring the folly of implementing a mandatory ethnic studies course without any common understanding of the subject.

    The folly becomes even graver when considering that the primary justification for an ethnic studies mandate — its supposed improvement of student outcomes — is wholly unfounded. The single empirical study claiming to demonstrate the academic benefits of ethnic studies was thoroughly debunked by scholars at the University of California and the University of Pennsylvania, who warned that “no conclusion” could be drawn from its data. Worse, an ethnic studies mandate forces students to take a controversial course with no demonstrable academic benefits in place of one with clear value, such as world history.

    The mandate’s serious flaws were well-known before the passage of AB 101, which raises the question: How could state legislators establish a law requiring all students to take a course with no agreed-upon subject matter, content standards or proven academic benefits and, under the Liberated approach to ethnic studies, that was likely to sow divisiveness and incite antisemitism?

    Unfortunately, the Jewish Caucus’ idea of adding standards to a deeply flawed mandate, though well-intentioned, will not fix the problem. Given the entrenched influence of teachers unions, university ethnic studies faculty and Liberated consultants over who teaches high school ethnic studies and how it’s taught, any attempt to add standards will inevitably be co-opted by these groups, further entrenching an ideological version of ethnic studies that is divisive, controversial and harmful to Jewish students. Moreover, AB 1468 risks giving a false sense of security to concerned parents and community members while failing to address deeper issues.

    Now is the time to reconsider — not reinforce — the ethnic studies mandate.

    Thankfully, a critical provision in AB 101 has been largely overlooked: The mandate is only operative when the Legislature provides funding for it, which has not yet occurred. And given California’s current financial crisis and the fact that the mandate is estimated to cost the state a whopping $275 million annually, it’s unlikely to become operational anytime soon. This presents an opportunity for legislators to do what is best for all California students: Instead of trying to salvage a foolhardy mandate that is beyond repair, legislators must work to repeal it.

    Without a state-funded graduation requirement, school districts could still offer ethnic studies as an elective or even a local graduation requirement, allowing communities to decide whether the course serves their students’ needs. However, given the cost, controversy and administrative burden involved with implementing an ethnic studies requirement without state support, it is doubtful many districts will proceed with it on their own. As a result, the ethnic studies industry — especially consulting groups like Liberated and university-based teacher training programs —will lose their primary source of demand and begin to wither, removing a major driver of politicized and antisemitic content in California classrooms.

    Legislators now face a clear choice: double down on a mandate that divides communities, burdens schools, and fails students, or take this opportunity to end it before it does further harm. Repealing AB 101 isn’t just prudent policy — it’s a necessary course correction.

    •••

    Tammi Rossman-Benjamin is the director of AMCHA Initiative, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to combating antisemitism at colleges and universities in the United States. She was a faculty member at the University of California for 20 years.

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • Fresno Unified teachers say district is slow-walking ethnic studies launch

    Fresno Unified teachers say district is slow-walking ethnic studies launch


    Last school year, Duncan High School students in Gabriel Perez’s ethnic studies class discussed how hip hop and rap music originated from young African American artists highlighting their lived experiences, which were often characterized by social issues such as poverty, gang violence and racism.

    Credit: Lasherica Thornton / EdSource

    In October 2017, Fresno Unified teacher Lauren Beal proposed an ethnic studies class at Edison High because she saw “a need for students to learn the historical truth about Black Americans,” an effort supported by the school, which serves higher percentages of Black students than the district, county or state. An ethnic studies class about Latino Americans was also proposed and adopted at the school. 

    Other teachers across the state’s third-largest district spearheaded such action in their schools. 

    By 2020, ethnic studies teachers envisioned thousands of Fresno Unified students — not just a few hundred in some schools — having the space to learn the untold stories of diverse communities. They formed the Fresno Ethnic Studies Coalition in hopes of establishing and implementing the course districtwide and increasing the district’s investment. 

    Following their efforts, in August 2020, the Fresno Unified school board passed a resolution to make ethnic studies a graduation requirement, the Fresno Bee reported at the time. Last school year, 2023-24, ahead of the state’s 2025-26 mandate for an ethnic studies course, Fresno Unified students were required to complete a two-semester course to graduate, according to the Bee. 

    Despite the enthusiasm that led to the creation of ethnic studies courses and the graduation requirement in Fresno, the development of the program is reportedly at a standstill, leaving some teachers to question whether it’s related to dissension in other parts of the state.  

    “In a few years, we have come a long way,” said Beal, who is teaching AP African American studies this year. 

    District leaders consider their decision to create the requirement a bold move because only a few California school systems have mandated ethnic studies classes so far. For instance, some districts have implemented ethnic studies gradually, starting with introductory classes or incorporating concepts of ethnic studies into other courses. Without state funding for implementation, other districts may opt out of the requirement altogether.

    In addition to the classes, Fresno Unified has offered its teachers professional development in ethnic studies, providing them opportunities to visit other educators across the state and to obtain graduate certifications in the subject.

    Even so, Beal and others accuse the district of being ambivalent in their decision-making, causing the program to stall. 

    “It’s not that they’ve completely dropped funding and completely dropped support,” Marisa Rodriguez, a Roosevelt High ethnic studies and Chicano studies teacher, said. “There’s no clear rationale and accountability for the decisions being made.”

    As a result, although led by educators, the implementation of ethnic studies has not been done with teachers, Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla said. 

    Being supported 

    Ethnic studies in Fresno Unified

    Courses, some of which are offered under dual enrollment, now include comprehensive ethnic studies, Chicano studies, African American studies, Asian American studies, women and gender in ethnic studies and Advanced Placement offerings. 

    The high school ethnic studies courses meet the A-G graduation requirement to gain admission to the University of California and California State University systems. Middle school courses are an introduction to ethnic studies but do not count toward the A-G or Fresno Unified graduation requirement.

    Nine Fresno Unified high schools have at least one ethnic studies course. Ten of the district’s middle schools and Phoenix Secondary, a 7-12 grade community day school, also offer ethnic studies courses. 

    The success of ethnic studies implementation has depended, in part, on Fresno Unified’s ability to recruit, train and continually support its teachers. Over the years, the number of staff supporting the program has remained the same as the number of teachers and classes has increased.

    To this day, nearly five years after the district’s initial action to require the course, ethnic studies has one vice principal on special assignment, Kimberly Lewis, leading and a teacher on special assignment supporting the program of 28 instructors and 1,600 students currently enrolled in courses.

    To help support educators, many of whom don’t have a background in ethnic studies, Fresno Unified has developed and offered teachers a chance to learn from each other, but the educators say they desire and need more robust training and “meaningful support.” 

    Educators with teaching credentials in subjects like history aren’t necessarily experts in ethnic studies, let alone the specific topics that must be covered, said Edison High teacher Heather Miller. For newly offered classes, such as Miller’s Women and Gender in ethnic studies, teachers must gain foundational knowledge of the course and be trained on how to teach ethnic studies and create a curriculum that is relevant, engaging and accessible to high school students, even though much of the existing ethnic studies content has been developed for college. 

    So, along with district-level support, the district needs experts in the ethnic studies discipline to help in the continual professional development of current and future educators, teachers say. And they want to have input on that. 

    Having a voice

    The termination of professional development without staff or community input continues to cause angst over a year later.

    In June 2023, the school board approved an $88,000 contract with San Francisco State professor Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales and her organization, Community Responsive Education, to provide monthly professional development and learning for Fresno Unified instructors. In November 2023, Fresno Unified did not renew the agreement as planned — and still hasn’t, despite it being proposed again last October. 

    Based on Nov. 1, 2023, board documents, Community Responsive Education would have continued to provide instructional coaching for Fresno Unified middle and high schools offering ethnic studies as part of a three-year partnership. The amended contract to increase services by up to $100,000 was removed by staff from the November 2023 agenda and was not added back in the 2023-24 school year.

    According to Rodriguez, teachers learned in November 2023 that the district did not renew its contract with Community Responsive Education, without seeking input on how it would impact teachers or their curriculum development.

    Between 2015 and 2017: High school ethnic studies courses in California began gaining momentum as more school districts started offering the class, Education Week reported.

    Between 2017 and 2020: Fresno Unified teachers spearheaded the creation of ethnic studies classes, and schools across the district adopted the courses.

    May 2020: Ethnic studies instructors, along with students and families, formed the Fresno Ethnic Studies Coalition to advocate for Fresno Unified to establish, fund and staff a districtwide ethnic studies program and implement a graduation requirement.

    August 2020: As a result of the teacher-driven efforts, the Fresno Unified school board passed a resolution to make ethnic studies a graduation requirement.

    Between the 2020-21 and 2022-23 school years: The district recruited and trained educators interested in teaching ethnic studies and expanded course offerings. The initial plan to require the course for incoming freshmen starting in 2022-23 was delayed in order to recruit teachers.

    June 2023: The school board approved an $88,000 contract with the organization Community Responsive Education to provide teacher and curriculum development from July 1, 2023, to June 28, 2024.

    Summer 2023: Ethnic studies teachers started meeting with Community Responsive Education consultants to create a framework to guide the teaching method for ethnic studies. The co-developed VALLEY framework — meaning voices, ancestors, liberation, love, empathy and yearning — ensures lessons are relevant for Fresno students. The consulting contract included at least 10 two-hour sessions with teachers and community members.

    August 2023: After being delayed by one school year, Fresno Unified started requiring incoming freshmen to take a yearlong ethnic studies course to graduate. The district’s graduation requirement is ahead of the state’s mandate.

    Teachers incorporated the VALLEY framework into their classes.

    September 2023: Pajaro Valley refused to renew its 2023 contract for the ethnic studies program curriculum of Community Responsive Educaton. Pajaro Valley’s three high schools had been using the curriculum since 2021.

    Pajaro Valley Unified had accused San Francisco State University professor Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, the program’s creator, with “unfounded allegations” of being antisemitic, according to The Pajaronian news organization. Tintiangco-Cubales was a part of a 2019 committee selected by the State Board of Education to draft a model curriculum for California. The curriculum was initially rejected amid accusations of political bias and rewritten. Many deemed the curriculum as antisemitic because it did not include the contributions of Jewish Americans as it did for Arab Americans, among other concerns. (Historically, ethnic studies has focused on African, Native, Latino and Asian Americans with the ability to include other racial-ethnic groups or marginalized communities.)

    November 2023: The services being offered through Community Responsive Education, which had been underway for nearly five months in Fresno Unified and were being utilized by teachers, needed to be increased. An amended contract to increase those services by up to $100,000, bringing the contract total to $188,000, was presented for board approval.

    Former Superintendent Bob Nelson recommended the amended contract for approval at the time.

    District staff removed the contract renewal from the school board agenda, essentially terminating the contract and ending services.

    In addition to helping create the VALLEY framework that guides the program, the organization was supposed to help develop and align the ethnic studies curriculum to the framework.

    November 2023 to September 2024: District leaders, including Instructional Superintendent Marie Williams, said Fresno Unified pulled the contract “out of an abundance of community concern.” She maintained that the district would not say what the specific concerns were.

    “We are not in a position to answer that question,” she told EdSource. “Here’s what we are in a position to do: We are in a position to get professional learning (for) the teachers; we’re in a position to contract with other vendors.”

    Over time, teachers used professional development they’d received — Community Responsive Education’s monthly 2023 sessions previously offered, other consultant training or district-provided opportunities, such as conferences — to guide their course and curriculum development. Ethnic studies teachers report that they are again “working in silos,” one reason they pushed the district to establish a districtwide program in the first place.

    October 2024: On Oct. 9 and Oct. 23, a $100,000 Community Reponsive Education contract was reintroduced for board approval. Again, as in 2023, district staff removed the contract from the agenda before it could be presented or discussed by the board.

    Interim Superintendent Misty Her recommended the contract for approval both times.

    Up until that point, Fresno Unified’s ethnic studies educators had been meeting with curriculum consultants of Community Responsive Education, including during the summer of 2023, to create the VALLEY framework – voices, ancestors, liberation, love, empathy and yearning – that intentionally centers “local, community, familial and personal experiences,” to guide ethnic studies in the district. 

    “Out of an abundance of community concern, a decision was made to not move forward with that contract,” said Marie Williams, instructional superintendent for curriculum and professional learning.  

    The district wouldn’t — and still hasn’t — named the specifics or the source of that concern, despite inquiries by ethnic studies teachers and by EdSource. As part of curriculum development, Community Responsive Education and the district would have garnered feedback from Fresno Unified’s students and community members, according to the scope of the work defined in the contract. 

    “We asked if it was due to anything in our curriculum,” Beal told EdSource. “How do we know — if you’re not naming the reason the contract was pulled — that we’re fair to teach what we’re teaching and how we’re teaching, and that you’re going to have our backs in the classroom? What is the line that we can’t cross as teachers?”

    It left them to speculate why. 

    Rodriguez said it was because of Community Responsive Education’s association with Liberated Ethnic Studies, an approach to teaching ethnic studies that centers around the liberation of marginalized and oppressed communities by dismantling racism and systems of power. 

    Ethnic studies educators and activists from across California created Liberated Ethnic Studies and formed the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium after the State Board of Education rejected the 2019 draft curriculum that they had recommended. According to the consortium, the model curriculum that the state board eventually adopted in 2021 removed or redefined critical terms such as capitalism, “fails to depict the true causes of police brutality” and lacks the history of Palestine, among other critiques.

    Advocates describe Liberated Ethnic Studies as criticizing and challenging systems of power and oppression, such as white supremacy, imperialism and “settler colonialism,” a system of oppression caused by a settling nation displacing another nation. Critics characterize it as a left-wing ideology focused solely on the oppression of those systems.

    There have been conflicts and lawsuits in districts that have worked with the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium. For example, in December, a federal judge rejected a lawsuit against the consortium, a Los Angeles teachers union and educators who created a “liberated” curriculum adopted by at least two dozen school districts. The judge cited a lack of evidence. 

    Even when curriculums aren’t developed through the organization, a connection to members of the committee that drafted the initial model curriculum and are leaders in the consortium, such as Tintiangco-Cubales, has seemingly led to backlash. 

    “Where does that leave us if we want to teach anything that is, in any way, connected to Liberated Ethnic Studies?” Rodriguez said.

    Lewis, the vice principal on special assignment for ethnic studies, said that the district assured teachers the curriculum was not the concern. 

    In fact, the district still uses the VALLEY framework that was formed with Community Responsive Education as it was built and co-designed by Fresno Unified educators to be the “foundation” of ethnic studies, Lewis said. 

    “It is the voices of our teachers,” she said. 

    Using that VALLEY framework, classes, such as Gabriel Perez’s at Duncan High, discuss the establishment of Fresno’s Chinatown near slaughterhouses and the tens of thousands of people from across California who attended a Ku Klux Klan Fiesta at the Fresno Fairgrounds in the 1920s. 

    “These were doctors. These were lawyers,” he said. “These were political leaders, a part of this community, who had this racist ideology.” 

    Rodriguez also incorporates the VALLEY framework into her classes at Roosevelt High. Student reflections on a comic novel about redlining in Fresno revealed their understanding of how race and class can be used to separate people. 

    The VALLEY framework is an approach to teaching the ethnic studies content, which is currently based on the state’s model curriculum meant to guide districts. In the absence of a consultant to further guide that curriculum and program development, the district has provided opportunities for teachers to attend conferences and learn from other local college professors. 

    “That doesn’t change our lack of faith or trust in them,” Rodriguez said.

    This past semester, the district reintroduced a Community Responsive Education contract, fostering hope among teachers that they’d regain ongoing support through professional learning, curriculum development and coaching from Community Responsive Education.  

    On Oct. 9 and 23, a $100,000 Community Responsive Education contract was on the agenda for board approval but was removed without discussion — just as it was in 2023. Each time it’s been pulled by staff, it’s been with the understanding, according to some board members, that district leaders will address any concerns. 

    Eliminating professional development without input or discussion — now three times — impacts educators’ confidence in teaching the course in a thoughtful, authentic way, said Bonilla, the teachers union president. 

    And it creates a culture of fear among teachers, Beal said. 

    Feeling protected

    Ethnic studies courses and curriculum are not submitted for school board approval. As long as the course and curriculum meet state guidelines, teachers have the autonomy to choose their teaching materials. 

    But teachers fear that what they teach will be brought under scrutiny. That fear, they say, could impact the district’s ability to recruit or retain ethnic studies teachers.

    “Too many times in this district, teachers have been thrown under the bus for teaching material,” Bonilla said. 

    With ethnic studies content, oftentimes, teachers are tasked with connecting material to something that’s happening in real time, he said. 

    “We don’t have safety or guidance on how they want us, as teachers, to discuss current events or real-world connections,” Beal said. “It’s a lot of autonomy, but it’s also a lot of fear.”

    The district has worked to mitigate such concerns, instructional superintendent Williams said, by building and strengthening administrators’ knowledge and understanding of ethnic studies so that administrators have confidence in the materials teachers present. 

    “If somebody has a problem with my curriculum, the only way that you can protect me is if you know what it is I’m doing,” said Amy Sepulveda, who has taught Intro to Ethnic Studies at Fort Miller Middle School for four years. “A lot of our leadership don’t know what ethnic studies is.”

    When principals and district leaders have a clear understanding of ethnic studies and the curriculum that teachers develop, they can defend and support teachers and their work. 

    The district has organized monthly meetings “to continue developing curriculum knowledge” among teachers and administrators and arranged for board members to visit ethnic studies classes. 

    Worry remains.

    Lewis, the vice principal on special assignment, attributes some worry to the idea of ethnic studies. A key concept of ethnic studies is to teach the counter narrative, stories and perspectives never documented or left untold in other classes, many advocates and educators say. 

     “I think everyone is struggling with how we work and shift mental models in a system that has been boxed in K-12 education.” Lewis said. “How do we unlearn and shift mental models on teaching the counter narrative?”

    Lewis realizes that teachers want protection of the materials that they use, including those presenting counter narratives. 

    But there is none, she said. There’s not a policy or practice.

    Without that protection, can ethnic studies thrive? 

    “We keep on moving forward without assuring the safe and sacred protection of the teachers, students and community that ethnic studies is supposed to uplift,” Sepulveda has said about ethnic studies implementation thus far. 

    To Williams, the way to assure staff of that safety and support is a consistent and continued commitment to move forward. 

    “We recognize that we are in this moment where there is concern and consternation,” she said. “To keep leaning in and to keep listening, to keep being responsive — I think that’s how you reassure them. I think it’s your actions.”





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  • Santa Ana to drop contested ethnic studies courses to settle closely watched lawsuit

    Santa Ana to drop contested ethnic studies courses to settle closely watched lawsuit


    Diane Diederich for iStock

    To avoid further embarrassing and expensive litigation, Santa Ana Unified has agreed to terminate three staff-created high school ethnic studies courses starting next fall and to start again from scratch. Next time, according to a settlement released Thursday, the district will comply with the state’s open meeting law it sought to evade and to seek public input, including Jewish advocacy organizations that brought the lawsuit and signed the settlement with the district.

    The 13-page agreement ends a lawsuit that the American Jewish Committee and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed in September 2023. The lawsuit asked the board to reject ethnic studies courses that it had approved in violation of the Brown Act, the open-meetings law. The lawsuit also claimed that the courses included sections on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that were biased against Jews and Israel.

    The deal followed a hearing in Orange County Superior Court in December and two months of negotiations.

    “We hope this is a cautionary tale to all the districts in California and anyone else who’s hoping to infuse ethnic studies with antisemitism, especially if they’re doing it in secret,” said Marci Miller, director of legal investigations for the Brandeis Center, Thursday. Miller said that the terms of the settlement should act as a deterrent for other districts.

    The agreement also could help other districts avoid similar conflicts. It spells out the procedure for “meaningful, substantive input from members of the public.”  There will be at least one public meeting no sooner than seven days before a school board considers an ethnic studies course;  representatives of community groups will be invited to offer their comments. The district will prominently publish drafts of course outlines on its website at least a week before the meeting.

    The Brandeis Center has also filed related state or federal discrimination complaints against Berkeley Unified, Fremont High School and Santa Clara Unified. A separate nonprofit law firm, the Deborah Project, has filed antisemitism lawsuits against a San Jose charter school and another Bay Area district, Sequoia Union High School District.

    In a statement that Santa Ana Unified provided Friday, district Superintendent Jerry Almendarez cleared up “some misperceptions” that led to the filing of the lawsuit.

    “At no time has the district supported the teaching of instructional content to students that reflects adversely on any group on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity, or national origin as alleged in the lawsuit,” Almendarez’s statement said. “The settlement of this lawsuit affirms that principle and resolves any misunderstanding that may have occurred.”

    Board President Hector Bustos signed the agreement for the district.

    The lawsuit focused on the work of the school board’s ethnic studies steering committee, which was led by two board members, Carolyn Torres, a seventh-grade teacher and longtime ethnic studies advocate; and Rigo Rodriguez, an associate professor in the Department of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at CSU Long Beach. He lost his re-election bid in November.

    The lawsuit said the committee members “consisted of a narrow and insular group of individuals who were ‘handpicked’ to promote a ‘very pro-ethnic studies’ vision, without any ‘naysayers.’”  

    Damaging court documents

    The district adopted three ethnic studies courses grounded in Liberated Ethnic Studies, a doctrine that stresses that the forces of white supremacy and capitalism are continuing to oppress minorities. It has made the conflict in Israel, which it characterizes as an oppressor state and a modern example of  “white settler colonialism,”  a central element in its curriculum.

    Promoted by the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium as an alternative to the mainstream state-adopted ethnic studies curriculum framework, the liberated approach has been adopted by more than two dozen school districts in California.

    Emails, documents, text messages, and chats obtained by attorneys during the discovery process revealed Santa Ana steering committee members’ biases. In a summary of the remarks submitted to the court, one unnamed member referred to the Jewish Federation of Orange County as “racist [Z]ionists” to whom the district should not “cave.” Additionally, in a chat, the same employee referred to the lone Jewish member of the steering committee as a “colonized Jewish mind,” as well as a “pretender,” a “f—— baby,” and as “stupid” because of the person’s reservations about some of the committee’s work.

    In an online chat, the Jewish member summarized what he heard as members were preparing to meet with the Jewish Federation: “Jews greatly benefit from White privilege and so have it better,” and “We don’t need to give both sides. We only support the oppressed, and the Jews are the oppressors.”

    According to the lawsuit, the federation had asked to contribute its perspective to the committee. Instead, the committee worked “under the radar” to avoid public scrutiny. When deciding when to present two proposed ethnic studies courses to the board, two senior district officials in text messages suggested scheduling it on a Jewish holiday so that Jews would not attend.

    “We may need to use Passover to get all new courses approved,” one suggested.  The other official responded, “That’s actually a good strategy.” 

    In March 2023, the steering committee submitted the proposed World Geography and World Histories ethnic studies courses to the school board. There was no discussion, public comment or presentation by the select committee. The plaintiffs’ memorandum said the agenda item consisted of “merely reading the titles of the courses. The entire ‘presentation’ was over in less than 30 seconds.”

    The school board approved the courses at a subsequent meeting, again without discussion. Jewish residents learned about the courses’ content only after their adoption, the lawsuit claimed.

    “There is reason to require that meetings have to be open to the public,” Miller said. “When nobody is watching, people will be left to their own prejudices.”’

    Details of the settlement

    Other points in the agreement include:

    Santa Ana’s previous steering committee and subcommittee that created the ethnic studies courses will be abolished.

    The superintendent, not the school board, will appoint members to future committees considering an ethnic studies course; board members will not be involved in that work until the final approval process.

    The district will recognize that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a controversial issue; as such, any classroom instruction or curriculum will comply with the district’s own policy on dealing with controversial issues. Many districts have adopted a similar document consistent with state law. Among the provisions:

    • The issue provides opportunities for critical thinking, for developing tolerance, and for understanding conflicting points of view
    • All sides of the issue are given a proper hearing using established facts and primary evidence.
    • Teachers do not use their positions to press their own bias
    • The discussion does not reflect adversely on anyone because of their race, sex, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, handicap or occupation.

    To create the ethnic studies courses, Santa Ana hired the Xicanx Institute for Teaching and Organizing (XITO); its leader, Sean Arce, is a team member of the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium. According to records, the district contracted $300,663 for its services, plus $79,200 for another Liberated ethnic studies contractor. Under the agreement, the district will stop using XITO’s services and any individuals associated with it.

    Arce did not respond to a request for comment.

    Under the agreement, Ethnic Studies World Geography; Ethnic Studies World Histories; and Ethnic Studies Honors: Perspectives, Identities and Social Justice courses can continue for the rest of 2024-25 under the condition that materials and instruction with claims like “the existence of Israel is a racist endeavor” will not be taught — unless done so in a way that complies with the controversial issues policy. A glossary by the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Coalition will be stripped from the courses.

    The district may have time to create new courses. A 2021 state law would require that school districts offer a semesterlong ethnic studies course starting in fall 2025 and that students must take it to graduate as of 2030-31. However, Assembly Bill 101 requires funding to become a mandate, and the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom have not provided money so far. Last month, Newsom did not include ethnic studies funding in his proposed 2025-25 state budget.

    The district will also reimburse $43,091 in plaintiff lawyers’ direct costs, like filing expenses. But the agreement did not cover attorney fees, which would easily have been so much more than the direct costs, at a time when the district faces laying off up to 300 employees.  The law firm Covington and Burling, doing pro bono work, and the Anti-Defamation League were co-counsels on the case,

    Miller said that was a deliberate choice in the negotiations. “Money was not the main goal of the lawyers,” she said. “Making systemic change was.” 





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  • Renewed push to reshape ethnic studies with oversight and new standards

    Renewed push to reshape ethnic studies with oversight and new standards


    A student shares her research results during a class presentation.

    Credit: Photo by Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages

    Este artículo está disponible en Español. Léelo en español.

    TOP TAKEAWAYS
    • A new Assembly bill aims to swap a voluntary curriculum with academic standards that would direct what should be taught.
    • The focus would remain teaching the triumphs, struggles and perspectives of Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and Black Americans.
    • The bill would restrict an alternative Liberated Ethnic Studies curriculum, which focuses on the power of white supremacy and condemns Israel as an oppressive colonial state.

    Thirty-one legislators, led by the Legislative Jewish Caucus, are calling for a do-over on teaching ethnic studies after a half-dozen years of strife.

    The authors are convinced that flaws in a voluntary model curriculum have led to complaints and lawsuits alleging that some districts are using biased and antisemitic course content and instruction. Therefore, they propose starting again by creating academic standards that would direct what is taught in the course and how.

    Assembly Bill 1468 would require the State Board of Education to restart a curriculum process that was highly contested six years ago. It resulted in multiple drafts and an uneasy compromise of language and goals reflected in a nearly 700-page California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. Since its adoption in 2021, school districts have had the responsibility to create their own curriculum based largely on interpretations of ambiguities of what constitutes an ethnic studies course.

    “When California believes in something, we write standards for it,” said Assemblymember Dawn Addis, D-Morro Bay, a former teacher. “Whether it’s English language arts, English language development, history, social science — there are different sets of standards. It creates a common understanding of what kids are supposed to be able to learn and do, and what teachers are supposed to teach.”

    “What’s happened in our schools is, one, antisemitism. But two, it’s tearing a lot of communities apart over something that is supposed to be really beneficial to children when done right.”

    In addition to creating academic standards, the bill would create new disclosure and oversight measures that don’t apply to the current model framework or academic standards for other subjects. They would require:

    • school districts to submit ethnic studies curricula to the California Department of Education for review
    • the Instructional Quality Commission, which advises the State Board of Education, to recommend a framework and instructional materials aligned to the new standards;
    • the California Department of Education to report annually on compliance with state laws;
    • providers of content and standards trainers to submit their materials to the state to ensure compliance with the standards.

    Opposition will likely be intense.

    “The bill’s push for increased oversight and censorship is deeply concerning, restricting students’ ability to engage in critical discussions on human rights, globalism, and social justice,” said Tricia Gallagher-Geursten, a lecturer in ethnic studies at the University of California, San Diego. “Furthermore, it diminishes the intellectual integrity of ethnic studies by dismissing the foundational theories and pedagogies that define all academic disciplines, violating the principle of academic freedom.”

    “AB 1468 is driven by those seeking to regulate educational content by silencing perspectives they oppose,” she said. “At this crucial moment, the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council stands with California students and our diverse communities in urging legislators to oppose AB 1468 and protect the integrity of ethnic studies.”

    Last year, the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) ethnic studies faculty and the California Teachers Association led the opposition to a less sweeping bill that would have required more disclosure of a proposed ethnic studies course and a review by a committee of teachers and parents. The California Teachers Association and UC and CSU ethnic studies faculty members criticized it as unwarranted and unprecedented interference with instruction.

    Addis and Assemblymember Rick Zbur, D-Los Angeles, introduced the bill late in the session and withdrew it because of a lack of support. This year’s 32 co-authors include legislators outside the 18-member Jewish Legislative Caucus, including Assemblymembers David Alvarez, D-San Diego, and Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton.

    “Jewish students are facing a very difficult environment in the community at large, certainly on college campuses,” said Alvarez. “It’s important that we acknowledge that and that we have curriculum that’s standards-based, as we do with other curriculums, reflects California’s values and steers away from antisemitism.”

    Targeting Liberated Ethnic Studies

    The legislation would curtail districts that have adopted Liberated Ethnic Studies, although it doesn’t name the curriculum or the consortium identified with promoting it. UC and CSU ethnic studies professors and instructors developed the Liberated version as an alternative after the State Board largely rejected the first draft of the model curriculum, which they had written, as ideological and biased against Jews.

    The state’s final version of the model curriculum presents a multiperspective exploration of the culture, achievements and struggles, past and ongoing, of the four primary racial and ethnic groups in California. They are Native Americans, Black Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans.

    The Liberated version takes a perspective that stresses the ongoing oppression of people of color through white supremacy and capitalism. It directs students to examine their own self-identities as to how their race, ethnicity, sexuality, and wealth and privilege intersect with others. Ethnic studies teachers say students find the courses uplifting, not pessimistic.

    To date, the state has kept no records on curricula that districts have adopted, but more than two dozen districts have contracted with groups affiliated with Liberated trainers and leaders.

    Charges of antisemitism

    Legislators made an explicit reference to that first draft when they passed Assembly Bill 101, which established the as-yet unfunded mandate for districts to offer a one-semester ethnic studies course in high school starting in fall 2025 and to require taking it for a high school diploma starting in 2029-30.

    They wrote, “it is the intent of the Legislature that (districts) not use the portions of the draft model curriculum that were not adopted by the Instructional Quality Commission due to concerns related to bias, bigotry, and discrimination.”

    Both Attorney General Rob Bonta and Brooks Allen, executive director of the State Board of Education and an adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom, have sent separate memos reminding districts to follow that prohibition. Nonetheless, proponents of the Liberated curriculum point to references to oppression and “intersectionality” included in the final framework to argue that their approach is consistent with the state framework.

    The Liberated curriculum also emphasizes solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle against domination by Israel, a modern “settler colonial state” oppressing people of color.

    The slaughter of 1,200 Israelis by Hamas fighters in communities bordering Gaza in October 2023, followed by more than a year of fighting and bombings that have displaced hundreds of thousands of Gazans and caused the deaths of an estimated 40,000,  have heightened tensions in the classroom. Jewish organizations and parents have complained that one-sided lessons against Zionism and the Israeli government have blended into overt antisemitism.

    The federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating discrimination allegations against Berkeley Unified. The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law has filed complaints against Fremont High School, Santa Clara Unified, and, in its latest filing, against Etiwanda School District in Rancho Cucamonga.  It alleges that a seventh grade girl’s middle school failed to intervene to stop physical abuse and repeated antisemitic slurs, including a Hitler “joke,” by other students. Last month, Santa Ana Unified agreed to discontinue three Liberated-affiliated ethnic studies courses after a lawsuit over public meetings violations revealed antisemitic bias and slurs by staff members.

    The proposed bill does not prohibit discussions of the Israel-Palestine issue, avoiding a trespass on free speech. However, it calls for ethnic studies to “focus on the domestic experience and stories of historically marginalized peoples in American society.”

    Like Assembly Bill 101 before it, the bill would ensure that ethnic studies “remains true to its original intent — promoting inclusivity, respect, and historical accuracy for all communities with a domestic focus,” said Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park.

    The 2016 law that authorized the creation of a model curriculum framework called for a committee consisting of faculty members of university ethnic studies departments, K-12 teachers, and administrators experienced in teaching the subject. The committee members whom the State Board appointed ended up writing the disputed first draft. AB 1468 also calls for a similar advisory committee, the majority of whom would be experts in ethnic studies.

    Wouldn’t that possibly lead to standards similar to those in the model curriculum’s first draft — and a repeat of the animosities of the first process?

    Bill author Zbur disagrees. The governor, not the State Board of Education, would name the members, and the language of the bill’s intent would make clear that the experts would be more “traditional” and not proponents of the Liberated curriculum. The advisory committee would also include representatives of communities most frequently targeted by hate crimes, thus assuring a voice from the Jewish community.

    Newsom would appear sympathetic to the effort. In April 2024, he pledged in his Golden State Plan to Counter Antisemitism that he “will work with the Jewish Caucus and Legislature to pursue legislation strengthening the guardrails established by AB 101.”

    His administration has not commented on the new bill.





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