California's high school class of 2030 will need to take an ethnic studies course in order to graduate.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed into law Assembly Bill 101, legislation drafted by Democratic Assemblyman Jose Medina that makes a semester-long ethnic studies course a graduation requirement beginning in the 2029-30 school year. All high schools must offer an ethnic studies course starting in 2025-26.
Newsom, in signing the bill, cited a Stanford University study that demonstrated struggling students assigned to take an ethnic studies course as ninth graders were more likely to graduate high school and enroll in college.
"America is shaped by our shared history, much of it painful and etched with woeful injustice," Newsom said in his statement. "Students deserve to see themselves in their studies, and they must understand our nation's full history if we expect them to one day build a more just society."
California's Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum focuses on four disciplines taught in ethnic studies in higher education within the state: African American, Chicano and Latino, Native American and Asian and Pacific Islander studies. Lesson plans on Jews, Arab Americans, Sikh Americans and Armenian Americans are also included.
The governor vetoed a similar bill in 2020, writing in his veto letter that the model draft curriculum "still needs revision" a year after expressing concern the proposed curriculum "insufficiently balanced and inclusive and needed to be substantially amended," echoing outside criticism. Districts drafting an ethnic studies curriculum, notably, were directed not to include portions of the curriculum that the California Instructional Quality Commission did not adopt.
The Latino Caucus, Asian Pacific Islander Caucus, Black Caucus, Jewish Caucus and Native American Caucus in the California State Legislature offered unanimous support for the bill in September, and it overwhelmingly passed both chambers.
Some Republicans have criticized the bill as an extension of critical race theory, the legal and academic framework examining the role of race and racism in society that conservative media and political figures have claimed is divisive and teaches hatred of white people.
Newsom, in his signing letter, said the "legislation provides a number of guardrails to ensure that courses will be free from bias or bigotry and appropriate for all students."
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, herself a Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies at San Diego State University, praised Newsom’s signing as "a great day for California."
"At a time when some states are retreating from an accurate discussion of our history, I am proud that California continues to lead in its teaching of ethnic studies," Weber said, thanking Newsom and Medina.
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