Nearly two decades ago as legislative staff, I drafted the first bill aiming to standardize ethnic studies in California high schools. Last week was surreal as I witnessed the California Legislature give final approval to Assembly Bill 101, by Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, that would make California the first state in the nation to require an ethnic studies course for high school graduation.
After numerous legislative iterations and revisions over the years and an approved model curriculum by the state Board of Education, Gov. Gavin Newsom must now sign the legislation into law. California is home to the largest and most diverse student population in the nation. Students of color account for 76% of the population in our public schools. They deserve an education that more truthfully reflects the experiences and contributions of people of color.
Ethnic studies also has its origins in our state as the first courses and programs were created over 53 years ago during the Third World Liberation Front Strikes at San Francisco State and UC Berkeley in 1968.
While our state now offers bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D courses and degrees in ethnic studies at our most prestigious colleges and universities, California has just not progressed enough when it comes to our high schools. Out of California’s 1.7 million high school students, only 8,678, or fewer than 1%, had access to an ethnic studies course in 2013-14, and only 26,218 students had access by 2018-19.
Last year, Newsom vetoed a previous version of the bill pointing to needed changes to the model ethnic studies curriculum that was created by my legislation, AB 2016, and was awaiting final approval by the state Board of Education. But after various revisions under the leadership of state Superintendent Tony Thurmond, the state board completed its work and unanimously approved the model curriculum last March. That paved a clear path for AB 101 to arrive on the governor’s desk at the end of this legislative session.
But legislative leaders did more. In the June budget, they also included a record $50 million for the implementation of ethnic studies and another $5 million for professional development for educators, contingent on AB 101 being signed into law.
The stars are aligned for Newsom to do something truly historic. After Gov. Jerry Brown signed my model curriculum legislation in 2016, other states began approving other landmark ethnic studies bills. In April 2017, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, signed legislation to become the first state in the nation to require all Indiana high schools to offer an ethnic studies course beginning that same year.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, followed in June 2017 by signing a bill to require ethnic studies in its curriculum in K-12 schools beginning this year. Last year, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont approved a law that requires all its high schools to offer African American, Puerto Rican and Latino Studies. But no state has yet made ethnic studies a graduation requirement.
AB 101 has had its share of critics within the ethnic studies community and beyond, and its implementation timeline is delayed until 2025-26 when schools must begin to offer the courses. The graduation requirement would not begin until the 2029-30 school year. Nonetheless, signing the measure into law, coupled with the record funding and the approved model curriculum, will be the greatest catalyst for making ethnic studies courses available in every high school in California in less than a decade.
Let’s be clear. If California is serious about preparing its students to succeed in diverse university and workforce environments and for jobs in a global economy, it must provide its students with the knowledge of the diverse people that make up our great state and the rest of our world. After two decades of effort, Newsom has the opportunity to do something truly transformative for California’s students and schools by finally signing AB 101 into law.
Luis A. Alejo, a member of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, is a former member of the California Assembly. He is the author of Assembly Bill 2016, which mandates the creation of the first state model ethnic studies curriculum for high schools in California and in the nation.
