LOS ANGELES — Ethnic studies may soon be a required class if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill sitting on his desk. Assembly Bill 331 would make ethnic studies a mandatory course for graduation at all California public high schools.
Los Angeles teacher Lupe Cardona helped draft the model ethnic studies curriculum that will be a graduation requirement if AB 331 passes. Now she has concerns.
“We’ve been saying, 'pass AB 331, let’s get it passed, let’s get it passed.' And now we’re scared to get it passed because it’s destined to fail,” Cardona said.
Cardona and a group of colleagues crafted an early draft of the curriculum back in 2019. When they turned in the draft to the state, she hoped the final curriculum wouldn’t stray away from centering the voices of Black, Chicano/Chicana, Asian, and Native American people.
Yet after reading the latest version by the state’s instructional quality commission, Cardona believes it has. She considers it a watered down version of what ethnic studies should be. Plus, she’s worried the class won’t be implemented properly as no money has been given to support the bill.
“My biggest fear is that it will pass and districts will not have the funding to hire ethnicity experts, to purchase the good books and materials needed,” Cardona said. “What will happen is they will basically put social studies teachers, some of which may be great, but many of which have no idea what ethnic studies is and - even worse - some who don’t even believe in ethnic studies.”
Assemblymember Jose Medina, D-Riverside, who drafted the bill says the plan is to add funding in the next five years once California has recovered from the economic crisis.
“My legislative colleagues and I are committed to securing funding to support ethnic studies implementation. Should the governor sign AB 331, it is a clear signal that he supports ethnic studies and will prioritize the funding of it in future budget years,” Medina said in a statement. “Additionally, many school districts, such as Los Angeles Unified and Riverside Unified are already moving to require ethnic studies as a high school graduation requirement without additional funds to support it. This suggests that many schools already have the infrastructure to support this legislation.”
The focus now is to get students learning about each other — which Cardona agrees is needed now.
“They get to learn about others’ experiences, which often times doesn’t happen, which is what leads to all these misconceptions and all the divisiveness we’re seeing in the country right now and we really we don’t need that," she said. "We need more folks having that empathy for one another.”
Newsom has until September 30 to sign the bill. Ethnic studies is now a required course at all Cal State Universities after Newsom recently signed AB 1460.