TEMECULA, CA — California officials sent a public threat to the Temecula Valley Unified School District on Thursday, warning that pending state legislation will undo the TVUSD's rejection of a social sciences curriculum for elementary students that referenced slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk.
Touting Assembly Bill 1078, which would require a supermajority vote by a school board to ban a book and would allow parents to appeal such bans to the county board of education, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday the framework is being laid to ensure all TVUSD students have updated textbooks.
“Cancel culture has gone too far in Temecula: radicalized zealots on the school board rejected a textbook used by hundreds of thousands of students and now children will begin the school year without the tools they need to learn,” Newsom said in a news release. “If the school board won’t do its job by its next board meeting to ensure kids start the school year with basic materials, the state will deliver the book into the hands of children and their parents — and we’ll send the district the bill and fine them for violating state law.”
TVUSD Board President Dr. Joseph Komrosky called the governor's threat "unfortunate," and said the district will have textbooks for students at the start of the 2023-24 school year that begins Aug. 14.
Under state education code, the district is required to bring current its outdated K-5 social sciences program. On May 16, a majority of the TVUSD board rejected TCI's Social Studies Alive curriculum that would have satisfied the state mandate.
The proposed curriculum was recommended by 47 TVUSD educators after piloting the program in classrooms and asking for input from parents of the nearly 1,300 TVUSD students enrolled in the pilot.
The text, one of four standard programs approved by the state, is routinely and widely used across hundreds of school districts in California, according to Thursday's news release.
The TVUSD board rejection currently leaves elementary students without up-to-date textbooks for the 2023-24 school year, according to district administrators.
The district has worked with the publisher of its outdated social sciences textbook and was told additional copies can be purchased at a cost of approximately $162,000. The order could be placed in time for the new school year.
"Students in the district are forced to use a textbook published in 2006," Thursday's news release said. However, a district official stated during the board's June 27 meeting that the text is actually older.
If the state steps in to provide updated social sciences books to the TVUSD, the text would be TCI's Social Studies Alive, said Izzy Gardon, deputy director of communications for the governor's office.
School districts have a legal obligation to implement a social sciences curriculum that highlights the contributions of various groups, including gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. A decision to remove or reject curriculum materials reflecting these identities "may constitute unlawful discrimination," according to a June 7 letter from California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office addressed to TVUSD Board President Dr. Joseph Komrosky and then-TVUSD Superintendent Dr. Jodi McClay. The letter stated there is "serious concern" about the May vote to reject the Social Studies Alive text for elementary grades.
During that May vote, TVUSD school board members Komrosky, Jennifer Wiersma and Danny Gonzalez found that a short biography in Social Studies Alive's supplemental materials about slain California gay rights leader Harvey Milk was "morally objectionable." The trio voted against adopting the curriculum. The Milk bio was not contained in the program's textbook, but rather in optional handout material.
Efforts are underway to recall Komrosky, Wiersma and Gonzalez. They were elected to the TVUSD board in November.
As of the June 27 TVUSD board meeting, an updated elementary grades social sciences curriculum was still pending. The TVUSD board is next scheduled to meet July 18. Ahead of the meeting, a workshop is planned to discuss the social sciences curriculum.
The governor's office warned Thursday that an updated curriculum needs to be instated by the July 18 meeting. While other state-approved curriculums are available, the district has no time to pilot them before the upcoming 2023-24 school year.
In an emailed response to a request for comment, Komrosky said the district has undergone an "intense effort by a significant number of stakeholders within the district" to resolve concerns and "assemble a curriculum that meets all state standards, including the FAIR Act, before the next school year is set to begin.
"What is also unfortunate is that the Governor knows this and has elected to publish this threatened action ahead of the District’s hard work on this matter that will ... come to fruition in just a few days," Komrosky wrote.
Senate Bill 48, otherwise known as the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act, was signed by California Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011. The law requires school districts to include instruction in history-social science about the role and contributions of people with disabilities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans; and other ethnic and cultural groups. The act prohibits teachers and school districts from promoting discriminatory bias, and it requires districts to adopt textbooks and instructional materials that accurately portray the above groups.
California's Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond joined Newsom in Thursday's news announcement and called on the TVUSD board to "reverse course to prevent further harm to students."
“Inclusive education promotes the academic achievement and social development of our students," Thurmond's released statement read. "School districts should not ban books in California, especially as it harms students of color and LGBTQ+ youth."
Thurmond pointed to AB-1078, which he said aims to "protect our students from the harmful effects of book banning, exclusion of inclusive textbooks and discrimination.”
State Assemblymember Corey Jackson (D-Moreno Valley), who is the first Black openly LGBTQ legislator, introduced AB-1078.
Komrosky rejects assertions that the TVUSD board banned the social sciences curriculum. The board, by a 3-2 vote, decided not to adopt it, he said.
“The Board remains steadfastly committed to compliance with all laws, providing a safe-learning environment for all students, prohibiting any activity that is discriminatory towards any student or staff member, and fulfilling its statutory duty to comply with all mandates of the Education Code related to the adoption of curriculum," Komrosky said. "The Board is charged with meeting the needs of its local community, and believes it is doing so appropriately and lawfully, and free from unlawful discrimination.”
California Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) also released a statement as part of Thursday's announcement.
“Censoring learning materials based on bigotry and ignorance prevents our students from getting a good education," she said. "Culture war extremism doesn’t belong in the debate of how to teach our children and school districts should always put students first. ... We have a duty to help eliminate ignorance in all its forms.”
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