California educators plan to work more closely with Native American tribes under a new law signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday, September 23.

Legislative Bill 1703, the California Indian Education Act, allows school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to encourage local tribal or historic encourages the formation of a California Indian Education Task Force with tribes located in the region. American curriculum and classroom materials.

“It is very important to teach all students about the diversity of California’s more than 100 tribes,” said Congressman James Ramos (D-Highland), the bill’s author, in a statement issued by his office. It is quoted in a news release that said: “Each tribe in our state has a different language, customs, culture and history.”

Ramos said a “more complete and higher quality curriculum” could prevent incidents like the October 2021 incident in which a math teacher in the Riverside Unified School District mimicked a stereotypical Native American as part of a trigonometry class. expressed expectations of

AB 1703 also requires local school districts to identify the size of performance gaps between Native American students and their non-Native peers and develop strategies to close them. The findings will then be submitted to the Congressional and Senate School Boards. Curriculum and materials developed by the state’s California Indian Education Task Force will also be shared with the California Department of Education for the purpose of making them available to educators throughout California.

According to Johnny Hernandez, vice chairman of the Mission Indians’ San Manuel Band, the new legislation took a long time.

“One way to prevent past atrocities from happening again is to learn your own history,” he said. “It’s important to learn that history.”

Traditionally, much of the discussion about Native Americans has focused on the tribes that lived on the plains, Hernandez said. “But much of it is not true.”

Hernandez attended San Bernardino Unified School growing up.

“When you’re in school, you’re learning how the local (American) Indians and the local settlers were friends,” says Hernandez, who graduated from San Gorgonio High School in 2004.

“The truth is not there,” he added.

The traditional fourth-grade California Mission project is also the only time Hernandez’s son, Gage, 16, has learned about Native Americans at school.

“I am very happy that[the new law]will be enacted for my brother, sister and all my cousins,” said the tribal youth committee.

Locally, the tribe has worked with schools on educational programs for over 20 years.

Hernandez Vice Chairman said: “I hope that the show will become something that everyone can look at as a model.”

Other Inland Empire tribes have similar programs, he said.

AB 1703 is one of five bills related to tribal issues introduced by former San Manuel tribal chairman Ramos, signed by Newsom on Friday.Earlier in the day, the governor announced September 23rd as california native american day.

“Today, as we enhance the rich history and contributions of California’s diverse tribal communities, the state will build on the progress we have made to right historical wrongs and empower Indigenous communities. We are committed to building again,” Newsom said in his office.

Other bills introduced by Ramos and signed by Newsom include:

• AB 923 requires state agency leaders to be trained in tribal affairs and how to work with tribal governments.
• AB 1314 created a “feather alert” similar to the amber alerts used for kidnapped children to notify the public of missing Native Americans in suspicious circumstances. Members of Native American communities are much more likely to go missing or be murdered than other American communities. Research suggests that Indigenous women are almost three times more likely to go missing than white women.
• AB 1936 authorized the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, to drop the name of founder Seranas C. Hastings from the school’s name. The university is also required to support the establishment of non-profit organizations with Yuki and Round Valley Native Americans. In the 1850s, Hastings facilitated and financed expeditions to hunt Native Americans and funded bounties for killing them. Hundreds of Yuki men, women and children died as a result.
• AB 2022 requires the slur “squaw” to be removed from California geographic features, landmarks, public lands, bodies of water, and structures by January 1, 2024.