Since joining the California Legislature in 2018 as its first Native American representative, Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-Highland) has worked to re-educate the public and protect the rights of Native American youth in the classroom and beyond. “We have so much to catch up on for over 170 years,” he said in a 2021 interview with CSBA. “We’re still battling to make sure that all those areas continue to be advocated for and highlighted.”
In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law the California Indian Education Act, which encourages local educational agencies to create California Indian Education task forces that include representatives of area Native American tribes and educators to talk about mutually concerning issues; share the government, history and culture of local tribes; and develop relevant curriculum and classroom materials. Assembly Bill 1703 also requires LEAs to identify achievement gaps between Native American and non-Native American students and establish strategies to narrow them.
This year, Ramos followed up his 2022 legislation with AB 1821, which was recently signed into law by Newsom. The new law will require that California students learn about the impact on California Native Americans of the Spanish Colonization and Gold Rush eras.
“For far too long California’s First People and their history have been ignored or misrepresented,” Ramos said in a press release. “Classroom instruction about Spanish colonization and Gold Rush periods fails to include the loss of life, enslavement, starvation, illness and violence inflicted upon California Native Americans.”
Also signed by Newsom this session was AB 3074, co-authored by Ramos and Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo (D-Santa Clarita), which will prohibit, beginning July 1, 2026, public schools not operated by an Indian tribe or tribal organization from using any derogatory Native American term — which includes, but is not necessarily limited to, Apaches, Big Reds, Braves, Chiefs, Chieftains, Chippewa, Comanches, Indians, Savages, Squaw and Tribe — as a school or athletic team name, mascot or nickname.
Implementing the California Indian Education Act
Some districts have been ahead of the curve in providing a fair and insightful education about the Native peoples in their areas. In 2018–19, Palm Springs Unified School District and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians collaborated to launch an elementary and middle school Native American Studies curriculum. In 2024–25, the district will expand the curriculum to 11th graders.
The current curriculum received a 2021 Honoring Nations Award from the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, which “identify, celebrate and share outstanding examples of tribal governance and help expand the capacities of Native nation builders by enabling them to learn from each other’s successes.”
“Designed to convey the history, culture and traditions of the Valley’s native inhabitants in their own words, without appropriation, ethnic bias or prejudice, the project represents a unique partnership among a public school district, a nonprofit foundation and a local tribe that can serve as a model for other regions of the country with significant indigenous populations,” states the curriculum website.
Supports available
The California Department of Education has identified two lead county offices of education (COEs) to develop the model curriculum related to Native American studies, asking California Indian Education task forces to submit curricular materials they develop for consideration for inclusion in the model curriculum.
According to the Humboldt COE and San Diego COE webpages, the Native American Studies Model Curriculum (NASMC) is “defined as lesson plans, primary source documents, planning resources, teaching strategies, and professional development activities to assist educators in teaching about Native American Studies. SDCOE and HCOE will collaborate with California Native American tribes, multiple county offices of education, Native American educational and cultural experts, K-12 educators, American Indian/Native American Studies departments at institutions of higher education, and American Indian nonprofit agencies to build systemwide capacity across the state to develop and author NASMC curricular resources. This three-year project responds to the urgent need to design culturally responsive, placed-based instructional resources and champion California Indian and Native American authored digital units and resources.”
Throughout 2023 and 2024, SDCOE and HCOE have hosted virtual and in-person NASMC Community Engagement Listening Circles in Northern and Southern California. Perspectives and voices of California tribal community members, Native American youth, educators and cultural bearers will lead the development of NASMC. The NASMC Listening Circles, focused on learning about possible goals, vision and outcomes of the NASMC; discussing their hopes for the NASMC; and providing guidance on the NASMC essential understandings and curriculum topics.
