In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a flurry of proposed legislation into law, ushering in changes to California’s public education curriculum that will take effect during the 2025-26 school year. These changes include Assembly Bills 2865 and 1821, bills that are aimed at enhancing California’s public education curriculum and address critical topics from health to state history.
AB 1821, authored by Assemblymember James C. Ramos, requires California schools to teach about the treatment and perspectives of Native Americans during the Spanish colonization of California and the Gold Rush era. While discussions of this law within the PAUSD school board have not publicly begun, its passage has sparked conversations about how Indigenous history has conventionally been taught in schools with the backdrop of fostering a more inclusive understanding of California history. The bill itself mandates that social science curricula for grades one through 12 include comprehensive instruction on the experiences of Native Americans during these historical periods. The goal of the bill is “to provide students with a fuller picture of the state’s history” and “to promote equity, inclusion and accountability for Native peoples,” according to a statement from Newsom’s website.
California’s especially complex history with its Indigenous communities has long been a point of contention in classrooms, with some schools choosing to simplify or even exclude the darker realities of the past. With the passage of AB 1821, Ramos hopes to rectify these omissions by mandating a more comprehensive and accurate portrayal of the treatment and perspectives of Indigenous peoples.
“For far too long, California’s First People and their history have been ignored or misrepresented,” Ramos said in a statement. “Classroom instruction about the Mission and Gold Rush periods fails to include the loss of life, enslavement, starvation, illness and violence inflicted upon California Native American people during those times. These historical omissions are misleading.”
Advocates for AB 1821 see the legislation as a vital step toward acknowledging and teaching the nuances of California’s history. Likewise, District 23 Assemblymember Marc Berman highlighted the broader impact of the bill on fostering awareness and equity in education.
“Creating a relevant and more accurate curriculum for students will foster more understanding, inclusivity, and respect for Indigenous histories,” he wrote in an email.
Advanced Placement United States History teacher Laurel Howard highlighted the inadequacies of the current and past methodologies of teaching about Native American history and the importance of proper education on the subject.
“When I was in elementary school, I remember learning a very simplified version of the mission story of how (the Spaniards) ‘provided schools and they provided food and they taught (the Native Americans),’” she said. “I now look back and I realize, that was (referring to) the Encomienda System, which is a system that effectively led to slavery of American Indians.”
On the other hand, some lawmakers and educators worry about the effectiveness of the bill, and whether or not it will truly drive change. Howard, one of the teachers who have already pivoted their curriculums to incorporate more Native American history, worries about the state’s ability to measure the bill’s success.
“Many (history teachers) had already started to make that shift before (AB 1821) came out,” Howard said. “I’m not sure how much it’s really going to change district or board policy, because this was already a priority for us. But it is also hard to enforce these kinds of things because there’s no state test for social studies, and they’re often passed without funding. For this particular bill, in all honesty, I don’t think it is going to change my approach, because it’s something I already try to prioritize.”
Howard also emphasizes the need for caution and precision when implementing new curricula, especially when it could contain sensitive topics.
“One thing I worry about when we see these types of bills passed, without that context and without money set aside for training teachers and supporting teachers as they revise their curriculum, is that there is a possibility that this could backfire and enforce harmful messages about American Indian people,” she said. “There is a possibility that we’re reinforcing narratives that hurt students, as opposed to trying to highlight and represent more voices than we traditionally have.”
While the goals of AB 1821 are widely supported, some educators are concerned about the practical challenges of integrating additional content into an already-packed curriculum. Howard expressed how the demands of balancing state mandates with College Board requirements can complicate efforts to teach effectively.
“This (bill) is separate from (the) College Board, and those of us who teach AP classes are balancing a lot of curriculum,” she said. “So when we are (forced) to cover more, there comes a point where we’re covering so much that we can’t actually cover anything in the way that we would love to. ‘What are we taking out? How are we going to fit this all to make a story that students can learn and understand and still relate to?’”
Authored by former Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, AB 2865 mandates that California schools enhance health education by providing detailed instruction on the short- and long-term risks of excessive alcohol use. Topics include the effects of alcohol on mental and physical health, such as impaired judgment, addiction, depression, and chronic illnesses.
“Schools are an important setting for interventions aimed at preventing alcohol use and abuse among adolescents,” Carrillo said in a statement. “Early education is a critical step to avoid alcoholism and the associated harms that come with the disease.”
Berman echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the importance of early and preemptive intervention.
“AB 2865 will provide updated, evidence-based education to students early on,” he wrote. “This early intervention will foster greater awareness about excessive alcohol use and the health risks that come with it.”
Living Skills teacher Max Zipperstein sees firsthand how early education can shape students’ understanding of responsible alcohol consumption. He believes these lessons are crucial before students leave home and face real-world decisions about drinking.
“We tend to send our students off to college without having an understanding of what drinking responsibly actually means,” he said. “The culture around alcohol is very different compared to other parts around the world. In the U.S., you’re not legally able to drink until you’re 21. However, we do know that a lot of students are probably engaging in underage drinking, but they’ve never really been taught how to drink responsibly, whereas in Europe students are often introduced to alcohol at a younger age. They’re also learning how to drink with their parents who [are] teaching them how to drink responsibly. But in the U.S., the drinking age is not available or doesn’t come into play until after you’ve left the home.”
According to Zipperstein, Gunn’s current Living Skills curriculum already includes lessons on alcohol education, something he views as a major advantage.
“The nice thing about Gunn is that we actually have (alcohol education) courses already in place,” he said. “We spend an entire unit on drug addiction and alcohol abuse in Living Skills, and we’re constantly making changes and updating it as more research is done on this topic.”
Zipperstein concedes, however, that implementing an alcohol education curriculum in schools that do not currently have one poses challenges—both for teachers and the community.
“Some of the challenges that some educators could face is figuring out a way to appropriately design a curriculum that provides adequate information to students, especially with a sensitive topic like this,” he said. “There might be some pushback from parents in the community saying that students are ‘too young’ to be introduced to material, that high school is not an appropriate setting for us to discuss alcohol.”
Ultimately, Zipperstein hopes that no matter how the curriculum is structured, students leave the classroom equipped with the tools to make informed decisions.
“We never have control over what our students do once they leave our classrooms, but we want to prepare them with the knowledge and the information that they will need in life so that they can make the best choices for themselves,” he said.
