What is “Voices” Liberated Ethnic Studies, and why have 2,100 parents and community members signed petitions against it? In March 2026, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) organized two consecutive Saturdays for eight community members to review and rate “Voices: An Ethnic Studies Survey” using a structured rubric. In the review sessions, participants learned for the first time that the district’s chosen curriculum was Liberated Ethnic Studies, and that it would be the only option under review for adoption. Moderators instructed the eight parent reviewers that no content of the “Voices” teacher’s edition would be evaluated — as the content itself was not being assessed nor altered.
An overwhelming majority of parents and community members support Ethnic Studies and the expansion of multiculturalism teachings in the school, so why is this controversial? Ethnic Studies has been part of the California curriculum for a long time; what’s the difference now?
The History of Ethnic Studies
The push for Ethnic Studies electives in education began in the late 1960s during the Civil Rights era. In 1968-1969, the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF), a coalition of Black, Latino, Asian American, and Native American students, staged strikes at San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley). They demanded new departments that would center the histories, cultures, and struggles of people of color, moving away from a purely Eurocentric curriculum. The first Ethnic Studies department in the United States was established at San Francisco State in 1969 after one of the longest student strikes in American history. It ushered in historic representation of marginalized groups, expanding cultural knowledge of Native American histories, Japanese internment, the Chinese Exclusion Act, and more.
John Rothmann, historian, author, and Voice of San Francisco podcaster, was part of the original committee that drafted Ethnic Studies. “The idea of Ethnic Studies was to study civilizations, cultures, art forms, history, religion, and philosophy of different cultural groups, ” Rothmann said in an interview. “But some current implementations shifted towards political agendas.” Ethnic Studies started as a pilot program at SFUSD in 2010 across five high schools. By 2015, it was expanded further in the district. By 2016, California was developing a model curriculum. It created little controversy, as most educators and parents were receptive to multiculturalism in education.
Liberated Ethnic Studies
By 2019, faculty at California State University and UC had begun drafting the first draft of the “Liberated Ethnic Studies” model curriculum. This version placed greater emphasis on themes of oppression, resistance, power dynamics, and activism, often drawing on critical race theory frameworks. An early draft was rejected by the State Board of Education for bias concerns, particularly its ideological emphasis. It gained significant momentum after the death of George Floyd in May 2020. The original authors formed the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium in 2020. Primary co-founder Theresa Montaño has defended the use of Critical Race Theory to mobilize students for activism, authoring a piece titled, “Yes, Critical Race Theory Should Be Taught in Your School: Undoing Racism in K–12 Schooling and Classrooms Through CRT”. Montaño reiterates that “CRT in ethnic studies is not satisfied with naming racism; it is imperative that K–12 students take action based on their critical consciousness of racial injustice”.
Liberated Ethnic Studies began entering into K-12 education after the passage of AB 101, which mandated Ethnic Studies in high school. The bill was co-sponsored by the state Department of Education and the California Teachers Association, and signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2021. Its implementation and oversight varied drastically from classroom to classroom. Sequoia Union High School of Menlo Park was sued because Ethnic Studies allegedly incorporated political tensions and antisemitic rhetoric after the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel. In Santa Ana Unified, parents and community groups sued the district over contested critical race theory courses in 2023, which led to a settlement and the termination of three staff-created courses in 2025. In 2024, parents sued United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) and the organization that created a controversial ethnic studies curriculum adopted by at least two dozen school districts in California. The lawsuit was weakened because it didn’t include the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) as a direct defendant. LAUSD has not yet adopted the Liberated Ethnic Studies curriculum, so the court concluded the speculative concerns invalidated the proposed solutions. Though LAUSD avoided a costly lawsuit, it slowed the district’s full adoption of the curriculum. In 2025, CA removed funding for the AB 101 Ethnic Studies high school graduation requirement, leaving its future implementation in limbo. Meanwhile, SFUSD moved forward with expanding the year-long “Voices” curriculum amidst its own significant budget shortfalls.
At the college level, individual campuses like UCLA and UC Berkeley incorporated Liberated Ethnic Studies into their multicultural general education (GE) requirements established in the 1990s. A student petition also began at UC Berkeley in 2020, known as the Area H proposal, to include ethnic studies among the 15 courses required for UC admission, known as “A-G.” It could be satisfied through an English, history, or other elective course taught through an ethnic studies lens. But widespread criticism and litigation continued, including federal scrutiny regarding potential constitutional violations and the impact on federal dollars for universities and public schools. In 2025, the UC Academic Senate ultimately rejected a system-wide proposal to add an ethnic studies graduation requirement. Known as Area H, the proposal was defeated by a vote of 12 in favor, 29 opposed, and 12 abstentions.
But on an individual level, UC campuses still enforce their own course mandates on graduates regarding race, ethnicity and cultural diversity. These have come under closer scrutiny as the Department of Justice investigates whether these policies constitute discrimination. The outcome of these probes could further reshape how diversity requirements are structured across California’s public schools.
