Educational equity: discrimination.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not provide specific consequences if local educational agencies do not comply with the new timeline for responding to discrimination complaints.

Educational Equity: Discrimination

AB-2615 changes requirements for teacher instruction and instructional materials, updates complaint handling procedures, and mandates removal of discriminatory teaching materials.

What This Bill Does

• Revises the requirement that teacher instruction and instructional materials be consistent with accepted standards of professional responsibility by removing this condition.
• Requires local educational agencies to notify people filing complaints about unfair treatment that they can also seek help through civil law.
• Sets a strict timeline for local educational agencies to respond to discrimination complaints, requiring them to issue investigation reports within 20 days after receiving written notification from the State Department of Education.
• Ensures that if teaching materials are found to be discriminatory, the Superintendent must make sure these parts are removed from all course offerings.

Who It Names or Affects

• Students and teachers in California public schools
• Local educational agencies responsible for handling discrimination complaints

Terms To Know

Professional Responsibility

The ethical standards that professionals, like teachers, are expected to follow.

Civil Law Remedies

Legal actions a person can take outside of the school system if they feel their rights have been violated.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if local educational agencies do not follow the new timeline for responding to complaints.
• It is unclear how removing the requirement for professional responsibility will affect teaching practices and materials.

Official Summary Text

AB 2615, as amended, Zbur.
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 revise and recast the above-described requirement on teacher instruction and instructional
materials by, among other things, deleting the requirement that teacher instruction and instructional materials be consistent with accepted standards of professional responsibility.
(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 requires a person who files a complaint with an educational institution, as defined, to be advised by that institution that civil law remedies may also be available, as specified.
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 district’s 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.
The bill also would instead require a person who files a complaint with a local
educational agency to be advised by that local educational agency that civil law remedies may also be available, as specified.
(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.

Current Bill Text

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