California's Ethnic Studies Retreat Masks a National Classroom Movement

by Marissa Streit

July 14, 2026

Townhall

Governor Gavin Newsom just signed a state budget that omitted taxpayer funding of California's ethnic studies graduation mandate. Parents celebrated but they shouldn't get too comfortable. The ideological takeover of the American classroom didn't wait for California's legislature, and it isn't slowing down. School districts across the United States are already offering ethnic studies courses that promote divisive, anti-American, and Marxist ideas to children as young as kindergarten.

Early drafts of the state's Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum drew criticism from across the political spectrum for framing capitalism alongside racism and white supremacy as a "form of power and oppression." Even the Los Angeles Times editorial board objected, warning students should also learn about capitalism's role in expanding opportunity and in building the middle class.

The adopted curriculum includes lessons on settler colonialism, on the Third World Liberation Front, and even uses Black Panther Party newspapers as primary source materials. California law also encourages districts to develop their own ethnic studies curricula, and many have gone further than the state model. Some have incorporated materials on the "Land Back" movement, which rejects widely accepted notions of borders and citizenship. These are not fringe supplements. This is content already in classrooms.

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