Bill Text: CA AB1281 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Pupil data: California School Racial Equality
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2010-01-14 - Consideration of Governor's veto stricken from file. [AB1281 Detail]
Download: California-2009-AB1281-Enrolled.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1281 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 31, 2009
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 2, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 23, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 14, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 18, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 30, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 15, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Portantino
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to add Section 49062.5 to the Education Code, relating to
pupil data.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1281, Portantino. Pupil data: California School Racial Equality
Designation Act.
Existing law establishes the public elementary and secondary
school system in this state. Under this system, school districts
throughout the state provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten
and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, at the public elementary and secondary
schools.
This bill would enact the California School Racial Equality
Designation Act. The bill would express findings and declarations of
the Legislature relating to the collection of data on the race or
ethnicity of persons who identify themselves as members of more than
one race.
The bill, commencing on July 1, 2010, would require any state
agency, board, or commission that directly, or by contract, collects
demographic data on the race or ethnicity of pupils in any elementary
or secondary school to provide written instructions for reporting
racial information that specify that multiracial pupils may select 2
or more racial categories.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The State of California currently has the largest population
of people among the 50 states who checked more than one race in the
2000 Census, which was the first time that multiracial individuals
were allowed to accurately identify their full heritage. Forty-two
percent of persons who chose more than one race on the United States
2000 Census were under 18 years of age.
(b) Many changes that influence terminology for the race and
ethnicity of Americans started with data collection forms. Although
the census is often a source for the proper terms to refer to
individual races and ethnicities, it is not infallible, and has
changed over time. For example, in 1850, United States Census forms
carried this terminology: "Color (White, Black or Mulatto)." In 1880,
the forms stated: "Color--White, W; Black, B; Mulatto, Mu; Chinese,
C; Indian, I." The 1930 Census was the last time that census takers
were ordered to apply the "one drop rule." In fact, the only
definition that has never changed on the Census is the definition of
"White."
(c) Just as the federal government officially replaced "Oriental"
or "Chinese" with "Asian," changed "Colored" to "Negro," "African
American," or "Black," and changed "Alaskan Native" to "Alaska
Native," the federal government has heard and answered the public's
need for changes in terminology. In California, Section 8310.5 of the
Government Code requires state agencies to include 11 subcategories
for Asians on every form requiring racial and ethnic data.
(d) Today, while the census allows persons to check more than one
box, it does not collectively refer to those individuals as
multiracial, but rather as "people of more than one race in the
United States" or as "people of two races." During hearings in
Washington, D.C. in 1993, the Office of Management and Budget asked
parents of multiracial children, and multiracial adults, for one
defining term. That term was, and remains today, "multiracial."
(e) The "Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting
Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity" were published in 1997 by the
federal Office of Management and Budget. These standards require
federal agencies to ensure that individuals have the option of
selecting one or more ethnic or racial designation on federal
government forms.
(f) (1) Beginning in the 2009-10 fiscal year, the United States
Department of Education will require schools and school districts to
collect and report race and ethnicity data using a two-part question,
which will consist of one question for ethnicity (Hispanic or
Latino) and one question for race. The State Department of Education
is incorporating the federal requirements regarding race and
ethnicity into the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data
System, but its "Guidance Letter, Attachment 1" to schools and school
districts does not include or mention multiracial children.
(2) The document "Managing an Identity Crisis: Forum Guide to
Implementing new Federal Race and Ethnicity Categories" has been
issued by the National Forum on Education Statistics. This task
force, chosen by the United States Department of Education, selected
22 representatives from 14 state departments of education to
disseminate their findings and suggestions to the states on how to
implement the federal requirements. None of the task force members
were from California.
(g) Multiracial children have historically been forced to choose a
single race when demographic information is collected. Although it
is progress to have the ability to check more than one box, it is
also time to terminate the use of pejorative or derogatory
terminology for this group of Americans, which have included such
terms as mulatto, mixed-up, half-caste, mutt, oreo, and half-breed.
In the most comprehensive book on the subject, The Multiracial
Experience: Racial Borders in the New Frontier (1996; Sage
Publications, Maria P.P. Root, Editor), the glossary states:
"Multiracial refers to people who are of two or more racial
heritages. It is the most inclusive term to refer to people across
all racial mixes."
(h) California has the opportunity at this time to be the most
progressive of all 50 states by utilizing the term "multiracial."
This will allow multiracial children in California schools to feel
included in the system, not excluded and invisible. Furthermore, it
will give teachers and administrators a clear and appropriate term
when referring to multiracial children.
(i) (1) Current reports comparing students based on race and
ethnicity data have rarely included multiracial students. Unless
multiracial students are included in data that California uses to
assess the needs of its students, policymakers are denied access to
accurate and complete information.
(2) In a paper published by the Psychological Study of Social
Issues (2009), The Interpretation of Multiracial Status and Its
Relation to Social Engagement and Psychological Well-Being,
researchers from Stanford University, the University of California,
Los Angeles, and the University of Kansas studied 182 multiracial
students in California. Results showed that those who identified as
multiracial tended to report either equal or higher psychological
well-being and social engagement. The Board of Education of the
Canton City Schools of Canton, Ohio found that multiracial girls have
the highest graduation rate among all subgroups. This is the kind of
information California schools could glean from similar data.
(j) With the expectation that this population will continue to
grow, it is in the best interests of the State of California to
collect accurate multiracial data relating to children in the
California public schools.
(k) At this time, when California is changing its forms to conform
with federal requirements for reporting racial and ethnic data, an
opportunity presents itself to include "multiracial" on written
instructions to students. Placing this term in written instructions
will allow multiracial students to see themselves on the form, will
not interfere with conformity to federal requirements, and will begin
a process of validating this growing population of Californians.
SEC. 2. Section 49062.5 is added to the Education Code, to read:
49062.5. (a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the
California School Racial Equality Designation Act.
(b) Commencing on July 1, 2010, any state agency, board, or
commission that directly, or by contract, collects demographic data
on the race or ethnicity of pupils in any elementary or secondary
school shall provide the following written instructions for reporting
racial information on all forms: "Multiracial students may select
two or more."
