The Legislature encourages local educational agencies (LEAs) to form California Indian Education Task Forces with California Indian tribes local to their region or tribes historically located in the region. LEA is defined as a school district, county office of education (COE), or charter school.
California Indian Education Task Forces
Assembly Bill (AB) 1703, Chapter 3, Statutes of 2022 added sections 33390 and 33391 to the California Education Code (EC) available at California Indian Education Act: California Indian Education Task Forces
. These EC sections, known as the California Indian Education Act, encourage the California Indian Education Task Forces to discuss issues of mutual concern and to do all of the following:
- Develop a thorough, shared understanding of accurate, high-quality curricular materials about the history, culture, and government of local tribes, and develop curricular materials for use within LEAs that include tribal experiences and perspectives and teach about the history, culture, and government of local tribes.
- Develop a shared understanding of proper or improper instructional material when these materials use depictions of Native Americans.
- Encourage LEAs to adopt curriculum developed by the California Indian Education Task Forces, in order to ensure that all pupils learn about the history, culture, government, and experiences of their Indian peers and neighbors, and to ensure that Indian pupils are more engaged and learn more successfully.
- Identify the extent and nature of the achievement gap between Indian pupils and other pupils, and identify the strategies necessary to close it.
Task forces shall submit, within one year of formation and annually thereafter, a report of findings to the California Department of Education (CDE), including a finding on the progress of the work described in the preceding bullet points.
California Indian Education Task Forces may submit curricular materials they develop to the contracted COEs developing the model curriculum related to Native American studies. The contracted COEs shall consider these submitted materials for inclusion in the model curriculum. The contracted COEs are:
- Humboldt County Office of Education
- San Diego County Office of Education
Informational web pages for the Native American studies model curriculum project.
Within one year of receiving task force reports and annually thereafter, the CDE shall submit a report to the Senate Education Committee and the Assembly Committee on Education. California Indian Education Task Forces may submit questions via email to CFIRD@cde.ca.gov.
California Indian Education Task Force Resources
California Indian Education Task Forces should submit their report via email to CFIRD@cde.ca.gov. In the subject line of the email, use the following format, “LEA Name_Task Force Report.”
Task Force Report Template (DOCX)
Template that California Indian Education Task Forces may use when developing their annual report.