(The Center Square) – The Washington State Board of Education is moving closer to officially updating and expanding a 2021 resolution that established an ethnic studies graduation requirement
Board members discussed “incorporating Ethnic Studies into the legislative platform, and/or addressing Ethnic Studies through the FutureReady graduation requirements initiative,” according to the agenda for Thursday’s virtual board of education meeting .
According to the board’s website, FutureReady – implemented this summer – is an initiative to update graduation requirements to better prepare students for the future.
However, the increasing focus on ethnic studies in all subjects is not without controversy.
The Washington chapter of the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism, or FAIR, has encouraged its members and supporters to speak out at board meetings in opposition to the ethnic studies push.
“SBE seems prepared to encourage more school districts to promote social justice theories and activism in K-12 classrooms through ethnic studies,” read a mass email sent to FAIR supporters ahead of the Washington State Board of Education’s August meeting. “It defines the subject to emphasize ‘oppressor vs. oppressed’” ideas as part of a push to “dismantle white supremacy.”