AB 2615: Educational equity: discrimination.

(1)Existing law states the policy of the State of California is to afford all persons in public schools, regardless of their disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other specified characteristic, equal rights and opportunities in the educational institutions of the state. Existing law requires teacher instruction and instructional materials, including materials adopted by the State Board of Education and any governing body, to be factually accurate, align with the adopted curriculum and standards, and be consistent with accepted standards of professional responsibility, rather than advocacy, personal opinion, bias, or partisanship.

This bill would delete the requirement that teacher instruction and instructional materials be consistent with accepted standards of professional responsibility. The bill would require teacher instruction, in addition to being factually accurate and consistent with the adopted curriculum and standards, to be balanced and fair, and to foster critical thinking.

(2)Existing law authorizes a person to file a complaint of unlawful discrimination with a local educational agency using the uniform complaint process or directly with the Superintendent of Public Instruction, as provided. Existing law authorizes a party to a written complaint of prohibited discrimination to appeal the action taken by the governing board of a school district to the State Department of Education. Existing law authorizes a party to a written complaint of prohibited discrimination to appeal to the department based on the governing board of a school districts failure to issue an investigation report within a certain timeline. Prior to direct intervention by the Superintendent regarding an appeal to the department based on a failure to issue an investigation report within a specified timeline, existing law requires the department to attempt to work with the local educational agency to issue a local educational agency report, within a specified timeline, to the Superintendent.

This bill would instead, prior to direct intervention by the Superintendent, require the department to notify the local educational agency, in writing, to issue a local educational agency investigation report to the complainant and the department within 20 days of the notification.

(3)If instructional materials are found to have resulted in unlawful discrimination, existing law requires those materials to be immediately and permanently omitted from the course materials and prohibits those materials from being used in any current course offerings or any subsequent course offerings.

This bill would require the Superintendent to ensure that local educational agencies omit all portions of the instructional materials found to have resulted in unlawful discrimination.