BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
The Palo Alto Unified School District is backing off its proposal to require students to take Ethnic Studies — a course that’s become a “political flashpoint” across the state, Superintendent Don Austin said.
The school board was scheduled to consider approving an updated Ethnic Studies course on Tuesday that would become a graduation requirement for incoming freshmen in the fall.
The state Legislature passed a law three years ago to mandate Ethnic Studies starting with the 2025–26 school year.
But Assembly Bill 101 said the requirement was “only upon an appropriation of funds by the Legislature,” and Gov. Gavin Newsom didn’t include funding in his budget proposal released on Jan. 10.
Austin criticized the state’s handling of Ethnic Studies in a letter to the community on Thursday.
Lawmakers have increasingly intervened on unfunded district matters, such as the addition of transitional kindergarten, school start times and course requirements that they’re not elected or trained to oversee, Austin said.
“Their early attempt at creating a statewide Ethnic Studies ‘model curriculum’ proved so problematic that it had to be largely discarded and rewritten, resulting in a broad, ambiguous document that has led to local divisiveness across California,” Austin said.
Palo Alto has gone slower than neighboring districts by keeping Ethnic Studies as an elective.
The Sequoia Union High School District and the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District already mandate the class.
Jewish families have complained about schools teaching a biased and one-sided view of the conflict in Israel that has provoked antisemitic remarks, bullying and antagonism toward Jewish students.
Both districts have been sued by the Deborah Project, a pro-Israel law firm alleging the districts are withholding records related to Ethnic Studies curriculum.
Austin encouraged the community to give input about Ethnic Studies to Assemblyman Marc Berman and state Sen. Josh Becker, who will vote on any related bills.
“By framing Ethnic Studies as a high-stakes, one-semester requirement, the Legislature created a political flashpoint, with some viewing it as a magical solution and others committed to fighting against the course in general,” Austin said. “Both extremes undermine the true goal of the course: to foster insightful, well-guided discussions.”
Austin thanked teachers who spent two years working on an Ethnic Studies curriculum.
“No further revisions or additional input will be gathered until the California legislature both assigns funding and clarifies any additional content requirements … Incoming freshmen should anticipate the traditional social studies pathways without changes,” Austin said.
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