Roseville Joint Union High School (RJUHSD)’s implementation of ethnic studies as a graduation requirement has been delayed due to lack of state funding.  In December, the district originally planned on shortening it to a nine week course and teaching it as a combination with health, until quickly reversing the decision in January due to lack of state funding. Since 2020, Ethnic Studies has been taught as a history elective across campuses. 

   The governor’s budget in January lacked funding for ethnic studies, influenced by political pressures from the Jewish community and other ethnic groups who are concerned about biased content in ethnic studies curriculum of anti-Jewish or anti-Israel material

   “There’s a Jewish caucus of lawmakers, and they believe the course is, in some school districts, teaching anti semitism. There’s people in the Jewish group, politicians included, meeting with other ethnic group caucuses,” Superintendent John Becker said.“Even within our state lawmakers, they’re struggling with it, because the course in some communities has become so divisive. Some people want it to be a history course. Others want it to be more on oppression and privilege and everything in between.”

   Joseph Cattolico, GBHS Ethnic Studies teacher, said the delay was unexpected because they had been told that it would be implemented starting next year.

   “It would be easier to teach it in 18 weeks and we would be able to get into more depth, but I understand there’s a limit to how much students can be required to take,” Cattolico said. “The hope would be that the state will fund ethnic studies courses so that districts can put them in place.”

   With UC faculty delaying the ethnic studies requirement, school districts have followed similar courses and faced similar outcry by the public. The district is collaborating with other Placer County schools and awaits the May revise for budget updates. If funded, the 2026-2027 freshman class would be the first to graduate with the requirement.

   “We’ve been prepared for a while, actually, but with the governor not funding the requirement, the board has decided we’re just going to stop and see what happens if this becomes a graduation requirement or not, ” Becker said. “If it doesn’t happen, we’ll just likely stay the course of offering it as an elective.”

   The law in 2021 read Ethnic Studies would only be a mandated requirement if there was funding associated with it to pay for it.

   Mahalina Vaka, a senior at GBHS, is Pacific Islander and a student in Cattolico’s Ethnic Studies class. Vaka expressed concern with the shortening of the course from 18 weeks to 9 weeks.

   “There’s so much that’s put into it and so much history behind it that it should be given the same amount of time as we do for any other social studies class.” Vaka said. “If they don’t get the conversation bill or the time that they want for this class, then it’s gonna somewhat affect how much they actually gain from the class.”

   Vaka emphasized the importance of the updated budget prioritizing the class and giving teachers more resources to better support students. She added it’s a valuable class that more students should take, but without adequate resources, students may not be able to fully benefit from it.

   “Our ethnic studies teachers have done a really good job so far of teaching the course in an appropriate way that allows freedom of thinking in different perspectives,” Becker said.