Update: This bill has been held over for the next year to “to allow for more time to engage in meaningful discussions with a broad array of groups” .

Pajaro Valley for Ethnic Studies and Justice is asking the community to call Dawn Addis (or their representative in the California Assembly and asking them to oppose AB 2918.

What is AB2918?

• California State Assembly Bill (AB) 2918 is a piece of legislation proposed by State Representative Rick Chávez Zbur and co-sponsored by State Representative Dawn Addis (who represents Capitola, Soquel, Aptos, La Selva, and part of Santa Cruz).
• AB 2918 will require any ethnic studies curricula developed in local school districts to undergo an extra level of approval in addition to the one that already exists, and undergo another round of certification by the state. No other K-12 discipline has these requirements – ethnic studies, a field forged by students of color, is specifically being targeted by special political interests.
• AB 2918 can also allow for community “stakeholders” to shut down an ethnic studies program if they don’t like what is being taught – the law does not clearly define who is considered a stakeholder. Locally in Pajaro Valley USD, we have seen how three “stakeholders” who do not have children in district schools shut down a successful ethnic studies contract against the wishes of students, parents, and teachers.
• AB 2918 will make it more difficult and expensive for school districts to develop ethnic studies classes, which will likely lead to students getting a watered down ethnic studies education, and/or having a harder time meeting ethnic studies graduation requirements.
• The California State Assembly will be back in session on Monday August 5, and it’s important that they hear from as many people as possible before then!

Pajaro Valley for Ethnic Studies and Justice is reaching out to spread the word about a call to action about legislation AB2918 that would give special interest groups even more power over California Ethnic Studies curricula in K-12 education. They continue:

Much of the legislative move to enact more guard rails and state oversight on K-12 Ethnic Studies is rooted in silencing education on Palestine. This is a time sensitive call to action as they will return to session on Monday Aug 5 about this bill, so if you can call today or tomorrow and/or spread this information to your networks, it would be greatly appreciated. 

Here is a spreadsheet with a list of phone numbers for your representatives by zip code (Dawn Addis’ local 831 office does ask you for your address to check, so her Sacramento number is also listed when someone is not located within her district) and here is the mobile phone friendly version with scripts attached for both students and non-students.

Additional information

• Who represents you? You can go here to find out who your representatives are in the California Legislature.
• The above links give you phone numbers and an email address. Another way to send an email to your representative is through Resistbot