Last Updated on December 15, 2023 by BVN
Ellen Perrault
Attorney General Bonta Files Amicus Brief in Support of Temecula Valley Unified Students’ Constitutional Rights
Earlier this week, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed an amicus brief in Riverside Superior Court in the case, Mae M. v. Komrosky.
The brief is in support of a challenge by teachers, students, and parents to two Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD) Board of Trustees’ enactments that violate students’ constitutional and statutory rights.
In one instance, TVUSD Board Resolution 21 purportedly prohibits the teaching of “Critical Race Theory,” and it includes sweeping language that would censor, for example, Native American history and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
Board Policy 5020.01, allegedly compromises students’ safety, well-being, and privacy, and violates their equal protection rights, by mandating the forced outing of transgender and gender-nonconforming students without their consent. The policy is a duplicate of the Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) Board of Education’s forced outing policy; Attorney General Bonta secured a preliminary injunction halting that policy in October.
“Schools have an obligation to provide a safe and inclusive learning environment, with curricula that reflect the contributions of California’s diverse communities,” Bonta insisted. “Temecula Valley Unified’s policies banning inclusive curriculum and forcibly outing transgender and gender-nonconforming students single out California’s most vulnerable individuals, severely harming their well-being and academic success.”
Bonta further affirmed how in the face of ongoing attacks in California and across the nation, his office “will continue to stand up against any measures that compromise the civil rights of students.”
More about the TVUSD policies in question
On August 22, 2023, TVUSD’s forced outing policy took effect. It requires schools to inform parents, with minimal exceptions, whenever a student requests to use a name or pronoun different from that on their birth certificate or official records. The forced outing is authorized to proceed without the student’s permission and even when doing so would put them at risk of harm. The policy requires notification if a student requests to use facilities or participates in programs that don’t align with their gender or sex on official records.
The FAIR Education Act (FEA) mandates the accurate representation of cultural and racial diversity in educational curricula, particularly in social studies for grades one through twelve.
In September, Assembly Bill 1078 (AB 1078) expanded the FEA requiring the inclusion of contributions from “people of all genders,” “Latino Americans,” “LGBTQ+ Americans,” and other groups in social sciences instruction. But in spite of these laws,in December 2022, the TVUSD Board passed Resolution 21, severely restricting students’ ability to learn about the roles and contributions of diverse groups throughout U.S. and California history.
In May, the TVUSD Board took additional extreme action when it initially voted not to adopt the TVUSD Curriculum Committee’s recommendation to approve the “Social Studies Alive!” curriculum for grades one through five. The vote was based on its opposition to any discussion of the roles and contributions of members of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly civil rights leader Harvey Milk.
In response, Bonta and Governor Gavin Newsom issued a joint statement urging the Board to provide information regarding its decision to reject the textbook, and the TVUSD Board changed course and adopted the curriculum, while pushing the chapter associated with LGBTQ+ rights to the end of the school year.
About the brief
In the amicus brief, Bonta expresses support for the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction against these two enactments. The brief sets forth how the TVUSD Resolution 21’s ban on inclusive curriculum violates students’ right to receive information and ideas through classroom teaching and reading under the California Constitution; violates the FAIR Education Act and AB 1078; and discriminates against students of color by restricting their opportunity to see figures like themselves reflected in their curricula.
In addition, Bonta argues that the district’s forced outing policy violates California’s Equal Protection Clause by unlawfully discriminating against and singling out transgender and gender-nonconforming students; violates California Education Education Code Sections 200 and 220, and Government Code section 11135, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression; and violates California’s constitutional right to privacy.Follow this link to view the amicus brief in its entirety.