News

Concerns about high school students being overwhelmed by homework, tests and graduation requirements led Gov. Jerry Brown to veto a bill allowing some school districts to require ethnic studies classes.

A bill recently introduced by Assemblyman Jose Medina, (D-Riverside), a former ethnic studies teacher, seeks to make ethnic studies a high school graduation requirement in California. The bill, AB 2772 passed the Assembly floor on June 27 and is awaiting a vote in the State Senate. If passed, it would require all high school students to take one semester of ethnic studies in order to graduate, beginning in the 2023-2024 school year.

The California Legislature is trying to make one semester of ethnic studies a statewide high school graduation requirement and a bill funding pilot programs is headed to the governor’s desk this week. Those who oppose the idea obviously have never taken a Chicano studies course. I urge them to do so. They’ll find a roomful of young Latinos learning that they, too, are a part of this state and country and should contribute to it. What a radical concept.

SB1437 by Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, would limit murder convictions to those who actually commit the crime, changing current law that holds accomplices to the same standard as those who actually committed the crime under what is called the felony murder rule.

The bill now heads back to the Senate, where it passed previously. If approved there again, the bill would head to Gov. Jerry Brown.

SB1437 would allow those who have been convicted as an accomplice to murder to petition a court to be re-sentenced. The bill exempts any case in which a police officer was killed.

On Monday, Assemblymember Jose Medina (D-Riverside) announced that Gov. Jerry Brown had signed Medina’s public education governance bill, AB1887, into law on Friday, Aug. 24. Under the new bill, all students eligible for in-state tuition are allowed to serve on college boards and committees regardless of age or citizenship status. Specifically, the law applies to undocumented students who are eligible for in-state tuition under California Education Code 68130.

A bill that would make ethnic studies a graduation requirement in California is among a series of education-related bills from Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, that are moving to the Senate floor.

The bill would require high schools students in California to take a semester of ethnic studies in order to graduate, beginning in the 2023-24 school year. Medina said the course would “help ensure that all students learn about the diverse histories of the people that make up America.”

This week the Legislature—which had been considering a bill to make California the first state to require ethnic studies for high school graduation—backed away from creating such a statewide mandate, citing costs estimated to top $400 million. Sponsors settled on a pilot program instead.

The pilot would cover 10 to 15 school districts across the state that will opt in to have ethnic studies as a graduation requirement. Schools would begin applying next year and the program would create the requirement for some students as early as 2022, with schools reporting their findings in 2024.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed a $139 billion general fund budget that includes $9.7 million to support the development of the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture and Industry of the Riverside Art Museum, also known as “The Cheech.”

Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, who chairs the Assembly Higher Education Committee, was pleased with the funding levels for the UC and Cal State systems.

“The budget originally proposed by the governor significantly underfunded these institutions, which would have been detrimental to our universities and our students,” he said. “The final budget agreement not only fully funds these institutions, but also allocates an additional $5 million to the UC, and an additional $120 million to the CSU for enrollment growth.

Metrolink is investigating a private security guard’s alleged remark that a Riverside train with many Hispanics was bound for Tijuana and a conductor’s apparent dismissal of a woman’s complaint about the comment.

The family of Riverside resident Felisha Carrasco and Assemblyman Jose Medina termed the remark a “racist” comment, while a Metrolink statement called it an “alleged racially insensitive remark.”