california legislature—2023–24 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 1078
Introduced by Assembly Member Jackson
February 15, 2023
An act to amend Sections 18111 and 60040 of, and to add Sections 33030.5, 51201, and 60040.5 to, the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 1078, as introduced, Jackson. Instructional materials: removing instructional materials and curriculum: diversity.
Existing law prescribes substantive requirements and particular processes that the State Board of Education, the Instructional Quality Commission, local educational agencies, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction are required to follow when adopting or evaluating instructional materials or curriculum frameworks, as defined.
This bill would require the state board to develop, by July 1, 2024, a policy for local educational agencies to follow before removing any instructional materials or ceasing to teach any curriculum. The bill would require the policy to include, but not be limited to, a requirement that the local educational agency receive approval from the state board before removing any instructional materials or ceasing to teach any curriculum. Commencing with the 2024–25 school year, the bill would require a local educational agency to receive approval from the state board and comply with any other applicable policies adopted by the state board before ceasing to teach any curriculum or removing any instructional materials. By imposing new obligations on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
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Existing law requires the state board to adopt standards, rules, and regulations for school library services and authorizes the governing board of a school district to exclude from schools and school libraries all books, publications, or papers of a sectarian, partisan, or denominational character.
This bill would also require the governing board of a school district to receive approval from the state board and comply with any other applicable policies adopted by the state board before removing any books, publications, or papers from schools and school libraries. By imposing new obligations on school districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law requires governing boards of school districts, when adopting instructional materials for use in the schools, to include materials that accurately portray the cultural and racial diversity of our society, including the contributions of both men and women and the role and contributions of culturally and racially diverse groups, including, among others, Mexican Americans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. Existing law requires the state board to comply with those requirements related to the accurate portrayal of cultural and racial diversity when reviewing and adopting or recommending for adoption submitted basic instructional materials.
Existing law also requires the governing board of each school district maintaining one or more high schools to comply with those requirements related to the accurate portrayal of racial and cultural diversity when adopting instructional materials for use in the high schools under its control.
This bill would revise the list of culturally and racially diverse groups to instead include materials that accurately portray the contributions of people of all gender expressions and the role and contributions of LGBTQ+ Americans. The bill would also require that every instructional material adopted by a governing board include proportional and accurate representation of California’s diversity in the categories of race, gender, socioeconomic status, religion, and sexuality. By imposing new obligations on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state.
Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, AB 1078 — 2 —
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 18111 of the Education Code is amended line 2 to read:
line 3 18111. (a) The governing board of any a school district may line 4 exclude from schools and school libraries all books, publications, line 5 or papers of a sectarian, partisan, or denominational character. line 6 (b) Commencing with the 2024–25 school year, the governing line 7 board of a school district shall only remove books, publications, line 8 or papers from schools and school libraries with approval from line 9 the state board and in compliance with other procedures developed line 10 by the state board, as described in Section 33030.5. line 11 SEC. 2. Section 33030.5 is added to the Education Code, to line 12 read:
line 13 33030.5. (a) The state board shall, by July 1, 2024, develop a line 14 policy for local educational agencies to follow before removing line 15 any instructional materials or ceasing to teach any curriculum. line 16 This policy shall include, but not be limited to, a requirement that line 17 the local educational agency receive approval from the state board line 18 before removing any instructional materials or ceasing to teach line 19 any curriculum.
line 20 (b) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
line 21 (1) “Curriculum” means the components of a course of study. line 22 (2) “Instructional materials” has the same meaning as that term line 23 is defined in subdivision (h) of Section 60010. line 24 (3) “Local educational agency” means a school district, county line 25 office of education, or charter school.
line 26 SEC. 3. Section 51201 is added to the Education Code, to read:
line 27 51201. (a) Commencing with the 2024–25 school year, a line 28 school district, county office of education, or charter school shall line 29 only cease teaching any curriculum with approval from the state line 30 board and in compliance with other procedures developed by the line 31 state board pursuant to Section 33030.5.
line 32 (b) For purposes of this section, “curriculum” means the line 33 components of a course of study.
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line 1 SEC. 4. Section 60040 of the Education Code is amended to line 2 read:
line 3 60040. (a) When adopting instructional materials for use in line 4 the schools, governing boards shall include only instructional line 5 materials which, that, in their determination, accurately portray line 6 the cultural and racial diversity of our society, including:
line 7 (a)
line 8 (1) The contributions of both men and women people of all line 9 gender expressions in all types of roles, including professional, line 10 vocational, and executive roles.
line 11 (b)
line 12 (2) The role and contributions of Native Americans, African line 13 Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific line 14 Islanders, European Americans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and line 15 transgender Americans, LQBTQ+ Americans, persons with line 16 disabilities, and members of other ethnic and cultural groups to line 17 the total development of California and the United States. line 18 (c)
line 19 (3) The role and contributions of the entrepreneur and labor in line 20 the total development of California and the United States. line 21 (b) Every instructional material adopted by a governing board line 22 shall include proportional and accurate representation of line 23 California’s diversity in the following categories:
line 24 (1) Race.
line 25 (2) Gender.
line 26 (3) Socioeconomic status.
line 27 (4) Religion.
line 28 (5) Sexuality.
line 29 SEC. 5. Section 60040.5 is added to the Education Code, to line 30 read:
line 31 60040.5. Commencing with the 2024–25 school year, a school line 32 district, county office of education, or charter school shall only line 33 remove instructional materials with approval from the state board line 34 and in compliance with other procedures developed by the state line 35 board pursuant to Section 33030.5.
line 36 SEC. 6. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that line 37 this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to line 38 local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made AB 1078 — 4 —
line 1 pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division line 2 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
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