California $3.8 billion ethnic studies mandate, state education control advance

The California Department of Education (CDE) announced it is doubling down on its "inclusive education" initiatives, launching new training programs to expand its ethnic studies high school graduation requirement and supporting legislation to strengthen state control over local curriculums.

Under AB 101, passed in 2021 and sponsored by State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, mandates that California public high schools offer ethnic studies courses by the 2025-2026 school year, and that an at least one-semester long ethnic studies course be required for public high school graduation by the 2029-2030 school year. To accelerate the adoption of such courses, the CDE is hosting a series of webinars on how to use the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Guide to meet state guidelines and deadlines.

According to a 2011 California Senate Appropriations report, AB 101 will cost an inflation-adjusted $374 million per year, or at least $3.8 billion in its first 10 years; given California’ common cost inflation, it’s likely the program will have a significantly higher cost than this estimate.

The CDE also used the occasion to announce its continued support for AB 1078, a bill Thurmond sponsored and helped write, and would bar school districts from failing to adopt textbooks in line with state curriculum requirements by creating a mechanism for the county superintendent to request the CDE purchase the needed materials, with the cost to automatically be passed on to the school district in question. The bill would also require a ⅔ supermajority, not a simple majority, of votes in a school board to remove any “inclusive” curriculum elements, and give parents a means of challenging said removals with the county Board of Education. Combined with AB 1314, another pending bill that would allow for the removal of school board members who prevent school districts from adopting “inclusive” materials or policies, this measure would greatly expand the ability of the California Department of Education to determine local school board education policies.

In the state legislative digest published for the bill, analysts noted, “By imposing new obligations on local educational agencies, the bill would create a state-mandated local program.”

“Inclusive education is proven to help students of color, LGBTQ+ students, and students of all backgrounds to make academic improvement and to support the social development of students,” Thurmond said. “We will continue to support our students and will not stand by as school districts attempt to discriminate against students.”

Speaking to Spectrum News about his bill, AB 1078 author and California Assemblymember Dr. Corey Jackson (D–Moreno Valley) noted the main concern driving his development of the bill is white Christian nationalism.

“This is an international, white Christian Nationalism movement that is trying to pull on the strings of people who feel marginalized, left out, in economic trouble, and using that anger to target specific groups for political gains,” Jackson said.”

As originally authored by Jackson, groups required in inclusive education materials originally included “people of all genders, Latino Americans, LGBTQ+ Americans, and members of other ethnic, cultural, religious, and socioeconomic status groups,” but was later amended for “religious” to be removed.