What is accurate and inclusive education?
Accurate and inclusive education can mean lots of things.
For purposes of this guide, we focus on California public schools, including charter schools, and define accurate and inclusive education to include:
- Educational content is inclusive of diverse groups including based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender, among other characteristics. Educational content should also be historically accurate with respect to settler colonialism, white supremacy, and patriarchy. Educational content includes instruction, textbooks, curricula, library books, and other resources to help you learn.
- Schools that are safe, affirming, and welcoming learning environments for all students, including LGBTQ+, Black, Indigenous, disabled, and immigrant students, students of color, and students of all religions. This means that students will not be discriminated against, bullied, harassed, or given unequal access to educational programming because of their race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, or immigration status. This also means that all students will be able to participate in school activities and use facilities in which the student feels the most comfortable and safe.
The below information focuses on educational content and what your rights are to learn in California. To learn more about what your rights are to a safe, affirming, and welcoming learning environment visit https://www.myschoolmyrights.com/rights/.
Do I have the right to learn about diverse groups in California public schools?
YES. You have the right to learn about and discuss race, gender, and sexual orientation in schools, as well as the history and viewpoints of historically oppressed groups. This includes learning about diverse groups of people in your classes and through your textbooks and other materials.
To ensure that you can access this content, your school board must adopt instructional materials that “accurately portray the cultural and racial diversity of our society.” In other words, your school should not exclude references to individuals or groups of people because of who they are; for example, your school district cannot ban materials that reference a politician solely because the politician is gay.
Does my school have to provide social studies or history lessons that include diverse groups of people?
YES. The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful Education Act (FAIR Act) requires your teachers to teach about and use learning materials that include the contributions of various groups when learning about social studies, including both the history of California and of the United States. This means you should learn about the economic, political, and societal contributions to our state and country made by people of all genders and across ethnic, cultural, religious, and socioeconomic status groups, including specifically Native Americans, African Americans, Latines, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, European Americans, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities.
Does my school have to provide accurate and inclusive sex education lessons?
YES. As of 2016, the California Healthy Youth Act (CHYA) requires all California public schools to teach unbiased and medically accurate comprehensive sexual health and HIV prevention education to their students at least twice–once in middle school and once in high school. Abstinence-only instruction is not permitted in California.
All sex ed instruction must meet the needs of students of all genders and sexual orientations and recognize same-sex relationships where examples of relationships are provided. Such instruction must also be appropriate for students with disabilities, English language learners, and students of all races and ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Schools must make sure that all students can get sex education in a way that works for them and that provides them with both knowledge and skills to develop healthy attitudes about growth and development, including menstruation.
For grades 7 and up, sex ed instruction must also include information about the safety and effectiveness of all FDA-approved methods of preventing pregnancy and transmission of sexually transmitted infections, including abstinence. It must also include information about HIV, pregnancy, sexual harassment, sexual assault, healthy relationships, and human trafficking, as well as resources and rights for accessing sexual and reproductive health care.
For more information on CHYA, visit our resource page at: https://www.aclusocal.org/en/know-your-rights/sex-education.
Can my school district’s governing board or my charter school ban instructional materials or textbooks because they include references to individuals or groups from diverse backgrounds?
NO. School districts or charter schools can’t prevent a school’s use of a textbook, instructional materials, supplementary instructional materials, curriculum, school library book, or other library resource just because it includes a reference to diverse individuals or groups.
California law has long required school districts to use instructional materials that “accurately portray the cultural and racial diversity of our society” (Cal. Ed. Code § 60040) so refusing to use instructional materials because they include references to people who are lesbian, gay, Black, or Muslim, for example, is not allowed.
Can my school prevent me from learning about critical race theory in California public schools?
NO. The US and California Constitutions protect students’ rights to share ideas and beliefs, including the right to receive information and knowledge, and this includes critical race theory.
Some people believe that having open and honest discussions in school about the existence of conscious and unconscious racism in U.S. society, including the negative impact racism has had on people of color, is “critical race theory.” But it is not – those are just open and honest discussions about the existence of racism in U.S. history and culture. “Critical race theory” is a framework used in higher education settings to examine how the law and race inform or shape one another. The reality is that K-12 schools do not typically teach history, or other classes, through a critical race theory lens. But if you want to explore critical race theory for a class assignment or if your school has a teacher who is willing to teach about it, your school board cannot prevent you from learning about it.
What can I do if my school or school district wants to ban instructional materials or textbooks because they include references to individuals or groups from diverse backgrounds?
If your school district fails to adopt or removes instructional materials or library materials because they include references to diverse individuals or groups, such as Black, Indigenous, and other people of color or LGBTQ+ people, then you can file a Uniform Complaint Procedures (UCP) complaint. A UCP complaint is a complaint you can write and provide to your school if you believe your school has violated a state or federal law. You can find more information on how to file a UCP complaint on My School, My Rights by clicking File a Complaint With Your School or by consulting your school district’s policies. To learn about some laws that protect you in schools and for which you can file a UCP complaint, check out our Education Complaint Guide. In this situation, you also have the option of filing a complaint directly with the California Superintendent of Public Instruction through the California Department of Education’s Education Equity UCP Office or the California Department of Education’s Office of Equal Opportunity. Check out our Education Complaint Guide to learn more.
What happens if my school or school district decides to change the textbooks we use because they include references to individuals or groups from diverse backgrounds and as a result, my classmates and I are left without any textbooks at all to learn from?
If your school district makes a decision to change your textbooks and the decision leaves you and your classmates without a book to learn from, then you can file a Williams complaint with your school principal. Among other reasons, you can file a Williams complaint if you believe your school is not providing you with the instructional materials you need to learn, like textbooks. Your school can give you a form to use or you can write a letter to submit your complaint to your principal. You can find more information on how to file a Williams complaint at the links provided in the “Resources” section below or at https://www.cde.ca.gov/eo/ce/wc/williamsinstrmaterials.asp.
Do I have the right to express myself and speak out about political issues while I am at school?
YES. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, Section 2 of the California Constitution guarantee freedom of speech and freedom of the press to all people, including students. In addition, two special laws in California specifically protect students’ rights of freedom of speech and freedom of the press at school.
The California Education Code gives a special guarantee that students have a right to express their political opinions. This includes, but is not limited to:
- wearing buttons, badges and other insignia (including armbands or message T-shirts)
- posting notices on school bulletin boards
- distributing petitions
- handing out other printed materials, such as leaflets
- writing in public school newspapers and yearbooks
- writing in “underground” (or unofficial) newspapers
These protections specifically apply to public schools and charter schools, but California law also extends free speech protections, including the U.S. and Constitutional protections, to private high schools in most circumstances.
Learn more about your rights to express your political views at school at https://www.myschoolmyrights.com/rights/student-protests-political-speech/.
Last Updated June 2024
The information in this Know Your Rights publication is produced for educational purposes only. This is not intended and is not a substitute for legal advice. The information described in this Know Your Rights guide applies to California public schools.