With a new law that gives the state more power over what is taught in schools, questions are being raised about the impact on young people and if the mandate will help improve reading and other test scores.
AB 1078 was meant to remove local control from school boards over their curriculum, raising concerns about the impact on students, parents, and communities, said Lance Christensen, Vice President, Education Policy & Government Affairs at the California Policy Center.
“Let’s start with the communities – it's law in custom and practice for school boards to determine curriculum for their students; they make these decisions based upon state law and community values,” Christensen said. “When a school board decides to change curriculum and still be compliant with state law, they should have a right to make those changes without going back to Sacramento and asking for permission every single time.”
Christensen
| https://californiapolicycenter.org
Well before the bill’s signing last month, parents were asking whether this new law runs afoul of the California state constitution, Christensen said.
“If the state is willing to give school districts the right and the authority to make and determine their curriculum while providing for state law, then they shouldn't have any ability in the say or purchasing of a particular curricula,” Christensen said. “One of the major constitutional problems is if a state decides that it doesn't want a certain textbook or instructional materials, I don't believe it is constitutional for the state to then purchase those materials for that district and then send them the bill for it. That, I think, is the biggest constitutional problem – that would violate the district’s or the trustees’ fiduciary responsibility over their district's budget.”
Christensen noted a host of other statutory and logistical problems look just as bad and will make AB 1078 very difficult to implement.
“Including the constitutional rights of local voters and taxpayers’ rights to govern their own schools,” Christensen said. “And the (state) constitution is also clear that you can't give local government an unfunded mandate to comply with.”
In the announcement of the law from Gov. Gavin Newsom, the measure is framed as "banning censorship." Critics say it is the governor who is running roughshod over the citizens and communities of the state.
California Education Code, adopted during the Newsom administration in 2021, states that, “specific choices about instructional materials need to be made at the local level.”
In view of constitutional concerns and potential litigation, the law presents significant hurdles for the state’s 944 school districts, and it remains unclear what the compliance deadlines are.
“You're replacing school board trustees with state bureaucrats, that’s what’s happening here,” Christensen said.
The bill, introduced by Assemblymember Corey Jackson, D-Perris this spring, had some bipartisan committee support but ended up passing along partisan lines.
“It’s making the determination of curriculum a political football. That will be litigated by many parties who have or want to decide upon a controversial issue instead of just teaching basic academics,” Christensen said. “If they're going to do that with these kinds of books and issues, then they should be prepared to do this with every single school district that is lacking on a sufficient number of textbooks and instructional materials.”