San Dieguito makes ethnic studies optional for fall

ENCINITAS — Following months of community discussion and lingering questions surrounding state funding, the San Dieguito Union High School District has approved an optional ethnic studies course for ninth-grade students beginning next fall. 

The district developed the course to comply with Assembly Bill 101, a 2021 bill requiring all high school districts to offer a semester-long ethnic studies course as a graduation requirement starting in 2025-26. 

Between September and December, the district board reviewed and approved four separate proposed ethnic studies units to be incorporated into the district’s core English 9 course. During that time, the district has been waiting to see how much funding Gov. Gavin Newsom will provide to implement the course. 

Districts were surprised to see last month that the proposed 2025-26 state budget lacked funding for ethnic studies. Facing deadlines to finalize courses for the upcoming year, the San Dieguito board decided on Feb. 4 to implement ethnic studies as a pilot course optional for freshmen in the 2025-26 school year, hoping to expand it in future years. 

“The approved optional course pilot offering will allow the District to offer the course on a smaller scale initially and gather valuable feedback from students and staff, ensuring it is well prepared to meet the anticipated AB 101 requirement for full implementation in subsequent years,” the district said in a statement to families. 

District officials said they are committed to fully implementing ethnic studies but that the governor’s budget presents a “timing challenge.” While the final budget in June could ultimately include funding for ethnic studies, the district has to finalize course offerings for the upcoming school year during the winter. 

AB 101 states that the mandate will only go into effect “upon appropriation of funds,” leaving a question mark for districts that have spent the past two years developing curriculum with the expectation that it would be funded. 

“Until the Governor approves the final budget in June, SDUHSD won’t know definitively if Ethnic Studies will be a required offering per Assembly Bill 101, or if the anticipated funding will be received,” the district said. 

When selecting classes for the fall, incoming ninth graders can choose whether to take the ethnic studies pilot course or stick with the regular core English 9 course, with the same option for English 9 Honors. 

The course will be offered at all four high schools, but how many sections offered per school is unclear.

Since California became the first state in 2021 to require an ethnic studies graduation, there have been questions about how this mandate would be funded. The state issued $50 million in the 2021-22 state budget for districts to launch the development of these courses, but no other designated funds have come since then. 

San Dieguito’s 2021-22 appropriation from the California Department of Education totaled around $228,000. In the upcoming school year, SDUHSD will allocate around $180,710 toward ethnic studies for teacher release periods and internal and external professional development days, funded by the General Fund and Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant dollars.

Course development

The development of the ethnic studies course has drawn a great deal of community scrutiny in San Dieguito. District officials provided multiple opportunities for community feedback, including listening sessions held throughout 2024 before the approval of individual units.

The four approved units are focused on identity, history and movement, progress and barriers, and social movement and equity. 

Many teachers, students and other community members say ethnic studies is crucial to exposing students to diverse perspectives, highlighting the experience of marginalized identities, and allowing students of marginalized identities to feel seen in the materials used in class. 

However, those opposed argue that these topics are divisive, promote a radical agenda, and say the course should be optional or eliminated altogether.

The contentious environment surrounding ethnic studies was in full view when the board reviewed the fourth and final ethnic studies unit in December. The unit will focus on leaders for social change and examples of resistance, with materials to include works by John Lewis, Maya Angelou, Dolores Huerta, Audre Lorde, and other revolutionary voices.

Students will also be asked to participate in a civic engagement project that includes writing a letter to a community partner. 

Trustee Michael Allman said ethnic studies shouldn’t be about creating “social justice warriors,” and trustee Phan Anderson argued that equity is a “rebranding of Marxism.”

Other trustees said they trust students to use critical thinking and noted that the course was developed using the State Board of Education’s model curriculum.

“My expectations are that students are going to grapple with some of the hard truths of our history, and some of the lingering effects,” trustee Jane Lea Smith said. “I expect them to leave this course knowing that even as students, they are empowered to be a part of making our country be a better place.” 

Ultimately, making the course optional disappointed some community members, who said it’s essential to make it part of the curriculum for all students. 

Bobby Wallace, a member of the Kumeyaay Nation, said it’s crucial that all students learn about Indigenous history and the history of other racial groups to prevent history from repeating itself. He noted that California’s K-12 education has traditionally celebrated the Catholic missions and figures who colonized the Native Americans without telling their side of the story.

“I think it’s pretty important to tell the true history, the way it was,” he said. “All the missions, a lot of that sounds all great, all happy, but there’s another side, a truth to be told. We can’t change history, but we can look at these things and educate our youth about them, so they have a correct mindset for when they become adults.” 

The San Dieguito Union High School District covers the areas of Encinitas, Solana Beach, Carlsbad, northern San Diego, Rancho Santa Fe, Carmel Valley and Fairbanks Ranch.