AB 101: California’s Ethnic Studies Graduation Requirement Explained

The California ethnic studies graduation requirement, added by Assembly Bill 101, requires every student at a public or charter high school to complete at least one semester of ethnic studies to earn a diploma, starting with the graduating class of 2029–30.¹ Schools have been required to offer a qualifying course since the 2025–26 school year, so students in current high school classes can take one already, even if their diploma doesn’t yet depend on it.

When the Requirement Starts

The law rolls out in two phases. Every school serving grades nine through twelve had to begin offering at least one semester of ethnic studies by the 2025–26 school year. During this offering phase, students can take the course, but no one is blocked from graduating for skipping it.¹

The graduation mandate itself takes effect for students graduating in the 2029–30 school year and every class after. The four-year gap between the first offerings and the first required completions gives districts time to staff up, train teachers, and refine materials. Districts may choose to require a full-year course instead of a single semester, but the statewide floor is one semester.¹

Which Schools Are Covered

The requirement applies to traditional public high schools run by local school districts and to charter schools. The statute names both, so a charter’s independent governance is not an exemption.¹ Any local educational agency enrolling students in grades nine through twelve falls under it.

Private high schools are not covered. They set their own graduation requirements. A student who takes an ethnic studies course at a private school and later transfers to a public school may be able to use that credit toward the requirement, but transfer credit policies vary district by district.

Four Course Options That Count

The statute does not lock every student into one specific class. It lists four qualifying paths, and a student can use whichever type the school offers.¹

A course based on the state’s Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, which the State Board of Education adopted on March 18, 2021.
An ethnic studies course the school already offered before the mandate took effect.
An ethnic studies course taught within a class approved as meeting UC and CSU A-G admission requirements.
A locally developed course, approved by the district through a specific public meeting process.

One guardrail runs across all four options: ethnic studies content must be the primary subject matter of the course. A general history or social studies class that touches on ethnic studies as a side unit does not count. When the course sits inside a broader subject, students earn credit for that subject as well, so the requirement does not automatically add another class on top of a full schedule.¹

Content Rules Every Course Must Follow

Whichever course type a school picks, the statute sets content standards it must meet. Every qualifying course must be appropriate for students of all races, religions, nationalities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, and ability levels, including English learners and students with disabilities.¹ Course materials cannot promote bias, bigotry, or discrimination against any person or group protected under the Education Code, and courses cannot teach or promote religious doctrine.

During the development of the state model curriculum, some draft materials were rejected by the Instructional Quality Commission over concerns about bias and discrimination. The statute instructs districts building their own courses not to use those rejected portions. That language is framed as legislative intent rather than a strict prohibition, but it signals where the state drew the line.¹

Model Curriculum Versus District-Designed Courses

The Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum centers on four historically defined groups: Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Chicanos/Latinos. It includes sample course outlines showing how ethnic studies can work as a standalone elective or be woven into an existing class like sociology, English, or history.²

The model curriculum is a guide, not a mandate. Districts can use it, adapt it, or set it aside in favor of their own course design.

Districts that write their own course have to follow a specific public approval process. The proposed course must be presented at a public meeting of the school board or charter school governing body, and it cannot be approved at that same meeting. The board must hold a second public meeting, giving community members a chance to weigh in before final approval.¹ The other three qualifying course types do not carry this extra two-meeting requirement.

Credit Toward College and Other Subjects

Because one of the qualifying course types is an ethnic studies course taught within an A-G approved class, students can satisfy the graduation requirement and a UC/CSU admission prerequisite in the same class.¹ The model curriculum includes examples of courses that have already been approved for A-G credit.²

Students also earn regular subject credit for completing the course. An ethnic studies course taught inside a history class counts toward the social studies graduation requirement as well.¹ A single class can, in that scenario, cover the ethnic studies mandate, a social studies credit, and a college admission subject requirement.

Foster Youth and Late Transfers

Education Code 51225.3 requires districts to exempt foster youth who transfer in during grade eleven or twelve from any locally added graduation requirements beyond the statewide minimums, unless the district determines the student can reasonably finish those extras before graduating.¹ Because ethnic studies is a statewide requirement rather than a local add-on, that exemption alone likely does not waive it. The protection still matters for anything a district layers on top of the state minimum, such as a district-imposed full-year version of the course.

1
California Legislative Information. California Education Code 51225.3
2
California Department of Education. Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum