With books dealing with race and LGBTQ+ themes banned across the country, the California Department of Education and Democratic lawmakers are focusing on providing diverse and inclusive classes in schools.
Supplemental Public Education’s Tony Salmond and lawmakers met for the first time Wednesday as part of a new task force, telling textbook publishers to “provide a non-discriminatory and diverse narrative that reflects California’s student body.” We promise to create teaching materials that include ”
According to members of the task force, all Democrats, it includes not only Black, Indigenous, Latino, Asian American, and Pacific Islander history, but also guidance on the LGBTQ+ community and people with disabilities. is also included.
Nearly 77% of California public school students are of color, according to state data.
Although California is considered a leader in inclusive education and has already introduced extensive curriculum standards calling for diversity in school teaching, the first-of-its-kind hearing was held by the Republican-controlled state legislature. It was a symbolic display of power by the Democrats who control the Capitol. States such as Florida and Texas have approved bills to curtail some teachings.
“Today’s conversation is more than just a response to what is happening in our country. and will continue in another decade,” said Senator Monique Limon (D-Goleta). “These are California values.”
Thurmond said California pays textbook publishers nearly $500 million a year. Representatives of companies that produce school materials, including The College Board and Benchmark Education Company, testified Wednesday at the State Capitol that they are working on diversity and inclusion.
Thurmond warned that California will not work with publishers that are bowing to Republican concerns elsewhere in the country.
“If you’re going to delete the history of people in other states, you shouldn’t expect to do business in California,” he said.
The hearing comes after Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, signed into law a bill known by critics as the “Don’t Say You’re Gay Act” that would limit teaching about sexual orientation. was broken Florida is now facing lawsuit Opinions from students and publishers (including litigation over deletion) A children’s book about a penguin with two fathers.
Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom lashed out at such policies, pose for a photo Read banned books like Toni Morrison’s “Beloved”, Demand records from textbook companies This is an attempt to see if publishers who supply books to California alter the texts they supply to red states.
“You can’t rewrite history in the backroom. You can’t erase basic facts about racism, the Holocaust, and Rosa Parks’ story,” he said. Tweet In May, he turned to DeSantis, a consistent political opponent.
California approved Criteria for “social content” A decade ago, schools were required to portray cultural and racial diversity “accurately and fairly” and avoid gender stereotypes. The state also has laws mandating comprehensive sex education and LGBTQ+ history classes.
In 2021, California will become the first state to mandate ethnic studies as a graduation requirement for high school students.
Education lobbyist Kevin Gordon, who is acting superintendent, said of Wednesday’s event, “This kind of hearing is probably more appropriate in other states than California.” “I think they’re just trying to shed more light on what the state is already doing rather than actually extending any reach to school districts.”
But local school boards have broad powers, and at Wednesday’s hearing, education officials acknowledged that it would be difficult to enforce policies in more than 10,000 schools spread across California.
National political debates on critical race theories, gender and other issues erupt at the sublocal level as Republican organizations strive to elect like-minded conservatives to statewide school boards. It is
The Temecula Board of Education opposed the use of textbooks that referred to San Francisco politician and gay rights leader Harvey Milk, who was murdered in 1978. The move angered Newsom. said in a tweet“This is neither Texas nor Florida. In the Golden State, children are free to learn.”
In Murietta, school board member blocked Use of “Give Me Liberty!” Some argued that The History of America, by noted historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Eric Foner, portrayed former President Trump in a negative light.
A meeting of the Unified School Board in Glendale sparked protests and arrests over classes on gender identity and sexuality.
Newsom, Thurmond, Atty.General Rob Bonta wrote: letter Earlier this month, we notified superintendents and principals of First Amendment protections and state laws regarding a “representative and equitable” curriculum. The letter warned districts with banned books that they could be asked to ask the attorney general’s office to “permit an analysis of the agency’s actions and procedures.”
Mr. Thurmond accused some school boards of using the state’s adherence to local control as a means of masking “racism and hatred.”
“The local administration does not give you the right to inflict pain on anyone or even threaten someone,” he said.
Jackie Gardner, a science teacher at a middle school in San Jacinto, has a rainbow LGBTQ+ pride flag in her classroom, but she said she has friends in other school districts who can’t do the same. State policies are a “gray zone” and often depend on individual communities, she said.
“While many of our community members still equate LGBTQ issues and many other inclusions with inappropriateness, that is definitely not the case. We’re saving lives,” Gardner said. High suicide rates among queer youth. “Some educators do not necessarily receive support from their schools despite their best efforts for this inclusiveness.”
Republican Lance Christensen, vice chairman of the Conservative California Policy Center, who ran for state education superintendent last year and was unsuccessful, recently announced that Placer County schools will challenge author Angie Thomas’ best-selling novel, “The Hate U Give.” I criticized what I was doing. The book tells the story of a teenager who witnesses an unarmed black teenager being shot by a white police officer.
Christensen accused state Democrats of feigning rage and unfairly blowing up the issue.
“Just because a school decides not to supervise a particular book doesn’t mean it’s banned, it just means the school doesn’t have to accept what the activist class feels it needs to impose on children. It is,” he said. “Parents can still get these books for their children at the local bookstore. There have been no book burnings.”
Members of the task force touted the possibility of a bill to hold the school board more accountable for the issue, but previous attempts have hit a roadblock in Congress and education advocates wanting to maintain control of the local Facing group concerns.
