The new year begins with new laws impacting education

New California state laws will protect the privacy of LGBTQ+ students, ensure Native American history is taught accurately, and make it harder to discriminate against people of color based on their hairstyles.

These and other new laws will take effect when students return to campus after winter break.

Schools cannot require parental notification

Assembly Bill 1955, The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in July, prohibits California school boards from passing resolutions requiring school staff, including teachers, to notify parents if they believe a child is transgender.

The Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth (SAFETY Act) also protects school staff from retaliation for refusing to inform parents of a child’s gender preference. The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, also provides additional resources and support for LGBTQ+ students in middle and high schools.

The law was created in response to more than a dozen California school boards proposing or adopting parental notification policies in just over a year. The guidelines require school staff to inform parents if a child wishes to use a name or pronoun other than that assigned at birth, or if he or she participates in activities and uses facilities designed for the opposite sex.

“Politically motivated attacks on the rights, safety and dignity of transgender, non-binary and other LGBTQ+ youth are increasing nationwide, including in California,” said Assemblyman Chris Ward, author of the bill, in a media release. “While some school districts have adopted policies regarding mandatory student expulsion, the SAFETY Act ensures that discussions about gender identity remain a private matter within the family.”

Opponents of the bill, including Rep. Bill Essayli, R-Riverside, stated that the matter will be resolved in court.

Accurate Native American History

Building a Spanish mission — out of popsicle sticks or sugar cubes — was once a common task for fourth-grade students in California. The state curriculum adopted in 2016 says this “offensive” assignment does not help students understand that era, particularly the experiences of Indigenous Californians subjected to forced labor and deadly diseases at the hands of Spanish colonizers.

But supporters of a new law that takes effect Jan. 1 say there are still major concerns that the history of California’s native peoples — including enslavement, starvation, disease and violence — is still misleading or not included in the curriculum at all is.

AB 1821, authored by Assemblymember James Ramos, D-San Bernardino, aims to address this issue. When California next updates its history and social sciences curriculum on or after January 1, it will require the Instruction Quality Commission to consult with California tribes to develop a curriculum that includes the treatment and perspectives of Native Americans considered during Spanish colonization and the Gold Rush era.

“The mission era of Spanish occupation was one of the most devastating and sensitive periods in California’s Native history, and the lasting impact of that period is lost in the current curriculum,” said a statement from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, one of the proponents of the law.

Lessons about desegregation in California

Another law, also taking effect this year, also requires the state to update its history and social sciences curriculum. AB 1805 requires that the landmark case Mendez v. Westminster School District of Orange County be included in the history, social sciences, and social studies curriculum updated on or after January 1.

The case, filed in 1945, targeted four districts in Orange County that segregated students. The plaintiffs in this case were Mexican-American parents whose children were denied admission to local public schools. The case led to California becoming the first state to ban racial segregation in public schools – and set a precedent for Brown v. Board of Education.

The case is mentioned in the history and social sciences curriculum, last adopted in 2016 for fourth- and eleventh-grade students, as well as the model ethnic studies curriculum as an example of inter-ethnic bridge-building.

The Westminster School District wrote a statement in support of the law to ensure the case is “properly recognized and lawfully incorporated into the state’s curriculum.”

Protection against hair discrimination

Parliamentary Bill 1815 makes it harder to discriminate against people of color, including students, based on their hairstyle. Although this type of discrimination is already prohibited by the CROWN Act, it did not extend to amateur and club sports.

The new legislation also clarifies the language of the California Code and eliminates the requirement that a characteristic be “historically,” rather than culturally, associated with a race to be protected.

“(This bill) addresses an often-overlooked form of racial discrimination that affects our youth – bias based on hair texture and protective hairstyles such as braids, curls and braids,” the ACLU said in a letter of support. “By expanding anti-discrimination protections within amateur sports organizations, this bill recognizes and seeks to dismantle the deep-rooted biases that affect children and youth of color in their sporting activities and beyond.”

Protection for children’s content creators

Newsom signed two laws in September that provide additional protections for children who act in or create online content.

The new laws expand state laws that should protect child actors. Senate Bill 764 and Assembly Bill 1880 require that at least 15% of the money earned by children who create, publish or share online content, including vloggers, podcasters, social media influencers and streamers, be held in escrow created for them to access when they reach adulthood.

“Much has changed since the early days of Hollywood, but here in California, our focus on protecting children from exploitation remains the same,” Newsom said in a statement. “In old Hollywood, child actors were exploited. In 2024 it will now be child influencers. Today, this modern-day exploitation ends with two new laws protecting young influencers on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and other social media platforms.”