SENATE RULES COMMITTEE SR 103
Office of Senate Floor Analyses
(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) 327-4478
THIRD READING
Bill No: SR 103
Author: Portantino (D), et al.
Introduced: 7/2/24
Vote: Majority
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 4-0, 8/14/24
AYES: Newman, Ochoa Bogh, Cortese, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Glazer, Gonzalez, Smallwood-Cuevas
SUBJECT: Italian American Heritage Month
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This resolution encourages public schools to include Italian Americans
in ethnic studies courses and designates the month of October as Italian American
Heritage Month.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Requires schools to offer beginning the 2025-26 school year, and with pupils
graduating the 29-30 school year to have taken, at least a one-semester course
in ethnic studies that meet one for four permitted options:
a) A course based on the model curriculum developed by the Instructional
Quality Commission (IQC).
b) An existing ethnic studies course.
c) An ethnic studies course taught as part of a course that has been approved as
meeting the A–G requirements of the University of California (UC) and the
California State University (CSU).
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d) A locally developed ethnic studies course approved by the governing board
of the school district or the governing body of the charter school. (Education
Code (EC) § 51225.3 (a)(1)(G)(ii))
2) Requires the curriculum, instruction, and instructional materials for an ethnic
studies or course, described in 1) above, to meet all of the following:
a) Be appropriate for use with pupils of all races, religions, nationalities,
genders, sexual orientations, and diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds,
pupils with disabilities, and English learners.
b) Not reflect or promote, directly or indirectly, any bias, bigotry, or
discrimination against any person or group of persons on the basis of any
category of a protected class.
c) Not teach or promote religious doctrine. (EC § 51225.3 (a)(1)(G)(vii))
3) Prohibits a governing board from adopting any instructional materials for use in
the schools that, in its determination, contain any matter reflecting adversely
upon persons based on race or ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, nationality,
sexual orientation, and occupation, and any sectarian or denominational
doctrine or propaganda contrary to law. (EC § 60044)
4) Requires all instructional materials adopted by any governing board for use in
the schools shall be, to the satisfaction of the governing board, accurate,
objective, current, and suited to the needs and comprehension of pupils at their
respective grade levels. (EC § 60045)
This resolution:
1) Makes the following findings:
a) A study published in December 2004 of social science textbooks used in
California schools and universities by Lawrence DiStasi and the Italian
American Textbook Committee, titled The Treatment of Italian Americans
in California Textbooks, found that Italian American contributions were
largely absent from elementary, secondary, and postsecondary textbooks
used in California.
b) Italian Americans are the fifth largest ethnic group in America numbering
roughly 26,000,000 people, with nearly 1,500,000 residing in California. For
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much of the 20th century, Italian Americans were the largest immigrant
group in the United States, yet they are not extended proper credit for their
role in shaping American culture.
c) As one of the country’s greatest success stories, Italian Americans made
enormous contributions to our country and state. For example, Amadeo
Pietro “A.P.” Giannini (The Giant of the West), born of Italian immigrant
parents in San Jose in 1870, began establishing branches of his Bank of Italy
in 1904 in the Italian neighborhoods across California, becoming the first
branch banking system in the United States, which he renamed the Bank of
America in 1930. The philosophy that spurred the success of Bank of
America was to invest in common people to stimulate rapid economic
growth. Mr. Giannini’s investments include the movie industry, the Golden
Gate Bridge, the Walt Disney Company, and much of today’s agribusiness.
d) Italian immigrant Marco Fontana arrived in the United States in 1859 and
started the California Packing Company under the Del Monte label. His
cannery soon became the largest food processing company in the world.
Domenico Ghirardelli settled in San Francisco during the Gold Rush and
founded the Ghirardelli Chocolate empire. The movie industry, the fifth
largest employer in the County of Los Angeles, owes much of its success to
numerous Italian American artists, including Danny DeVito, John Travolta,
Sylvester Stallone, Al Pacino, Vito Russo, Isabella Rossellini, Liza Minelli,
Anne Bancroft, Marisa Tomei, and many others. Italian Americans have
served this country in governance as well, such as United States
Representative Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.
e) The wine industry in California owes much of its success to Italian
Americans. Italian pioneers established the early wine industry in the
California foothills of the Gold Country following the Gold Rush of 1848. In
1881, Italian immigrant Andrea Sbarboro founded the Italian Swiss Colony
at Asti, a cooperative of Italian immigrants from the wine growing areas of
northern Italy. The colony quickly became the largest winery in the Napa
and Sonoma Valleys. Later Italian winemakers like Robert Mondavi and the
Sebastiani family established world class status for California wines.
Beginning in the 1940s, Ernest Gallo and Julio Gallo established the largest
family owned winery in the United States in California’s Central Valley.
Zinfandel might have disappeared had it not been resurrected by the Bob
Trinchero family winery, the first to introduce white Zinfandel from their
Sutter Home Winery in the Napa Valley.
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f) Italian Americans were among the earliest and largest groups to settle in
California, and they played a dominant role in the creation of the state’s
agriculture, food processing, branch banking, fishing, and wine industries.
Little-known facts regarding the experience and contributions of Italian
Americans include the following: (1) Between 1880 and 1920, about
4,000,000 Italians immigrated to the United States and nearly one-third of
Ellis Island immigrants were Italian. Restrictive immigration laws at that
time were directly aimed at Italian immigrants and based on anti-Italian
attitudes; and (2) Italians played a large role in the development of
agriculture in California. Their control and development of fruit and
vegetable industries in the central valley, truck farming in major urban
centers, and their influence on the development of wine and grape industries
left a legacy shared by us all.
g) Although Italians constituted the largest ethnic group in the American
military during World War II, an estimated 600,000 Italian immigrants
nationwide suffered wartime restrictions, including internment and arrest,
curfews, travel restrictions, and seizure of their personal property. Some
10,000 Italian Americans were forced to relocate from coastal areas of
California.
h) Italian American contributions to California and United States history can be
easily incorporated in the current elementary and secondary curriculum
content. Italian Americans played a vital role in shaping the cultural
landscape of California. The story of California would be incomplete
without telling the story of their distinctive contributions to the history and
development of the state and the nation. Including Italian Americans in the
educational experience would help provide better awareness and
understanding of the unique cultural differences of this significant part of the
state’s ethnic diversity and help overcome more than a century of prejudice
against them.
i) In 1996, the Legislature established the California Italian American Task
Force. The highest priority of the task force is the inclusion in the public
school curriculum of Italian American history, achievements, and
contributions.
j) Both Italian American heritage and the individual and collective
contributions of Italian Americans deserve the state’s recognition and
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commendation and the designation of a month in their honor for collective
reflection and celebration.
2) Resolves that:
a) Encourages public schools to include Italian Americans in ethnic studies
course.
b) Designating October as Italian American Heritage Month.
Comments
1) Need for the resolution. According to the author, “Italian Americans have been
instrumental in shaping California’s history and culture, from pioneering the
state’s agriculture and wine industries to establishing the first branch banking
system in the U.S. and home of the first woman to be speaker of the house.
Despite their significant contributions, their role has been largely under taught
in educational curricula. SR 103 honors the Italian American legacy and
encourages schools to include their achievements, ensuring their impact in
California is properly recognized and celebrated.”
2) How Curriculum, Standards, Frameworks, and Model Curricula Are Created
and Adopted. The Legislature has vested the IQC and State Board of Education
(SBE) with the authority to develop and adopt state curriculum and instructional
materials. The IQC develops curriculum frameworks in each subject by
convening expert panels, developing drafts, and holding public hearings to
solicit input. Changes are frequently made in response to public comment. The
SBE then adopts the frameworks in a public meeting. The SBE also adopts, in a
public process, instructional materials aligned to those frameworks for grades
K-8. These existing processes involve practitioners and experts who have an in-
depth understanding of curriculum and instruction, including the full scope and
sequence of the curriculum in each subject and at each grade level, constraints
on instructional time and resources, and the relationship of curriculum to state
assessments and other measures of student progress.
The Development of Ethnic Studies. In March 2018, the SBE adopted the ethnic
studies model curriculum. The development process sparked controversy due to
concerns over which groups the curriculum would include and some specifics in
the initial draft. After public comment periods and revisions, the CDE
recommended that the model curriculum expand the breadth and depth of the
four foundational disciplines of ethnic studies—African American Studies,
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Asian American Studies, Chicana/o/x Latina/o/x Studies, and Native American
Studies. Additionally, the CDE proposed updating and expanding existing
resources to reflect California's diversity by offering instructional materials that
include the voices of identities intersecting with ethnic studies, such as Arab
Americans, Armenian Americans, Jewish Americans, and Sikh Americans.
It should be noted that the model curriculum adopted by the SBE is one of the
four permitted types of ethnic studies courses a school may use to meet the
ethnic studies graduation requirement.
3) Ethnic Studies Courses Permitted By Statute. As part of AB 101 (Medina,
Chapter 661, Statues of 2021), the Legislature permitted school district and
charter school governing boards to meet the high school graduation
requirements through a pupil’s completion of any of the following types of
courses:
a) An ethnics studies course based on the model curriculum approved by the
SBE;
b) An existing ethnic studies course (prior to the passage of AB 101 (Medina,
Chapter 661, Statues of 2021) some districts already developed, adopted,
and offered an ethnic studies course to students);
c) An ethnic studies course taught as part of a course that has been approved as
meeting the A–G requirements of the UC and the CSU (prior to the passage
of AB 101 (Medina, Chapter 661, Statues of 2021) some districts had
already developed, adopted and offered an ethnic studies course approved by
the UC to meet the A-G requirement for social studies); or
d) A locally developed ethnic studies course approved by the governing board
of the school district or the governing body of the charter school that
requires the proposed course to first be presented at a public meeting of the
governing board of the school district or the governing body of the charter
school, and to not be approved until a subsequent public meeting of the
governing board or governing body at which the public has had the
opportunity to express its views on the proposed course. (EC 51225.3
(a)(1)(G)(ii))
In addition to specifying the types of ethnic studies courses that a school district
and charter school governing boards may approve to help students meet the
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high school graduation requirement, AB 101 (Medina, Chapter 661, Statutes of
2021) also specifies the curriculum, instruction, and instructional materials for
all types of ethnic studies courses, listed in a) - d) above must meet all of the
following:
a) Be appropriate for use with pupils of all races, religions, nationalities,
genders, sexual orientations, and diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds,
pupils with disabilities, and English learners.
b) Not reflect or promote, directly or indirectly, any bias, bigotry, or
discrimination against any person, or group of persons, on the basis of any
category of a protected class.
c) Not teach or promote religious doctrine. (EC 51225.3 (a)(1)(G)(vii))
Under existing law, local educational agency (LEAs) are permitted to adopt
locally developed ethnic studies courses, as specified, which could include a
locally developed ethnic studies course related to the history and contributions
of Italian Americans. This resolution does not change exiting law.
4) The California Italian American Taskforce (Taskforce). On August 5, 1996, a
Resolution was passed in the California State Assembly calling for creating a
statewide Italian American Taskforce to address the concerns of Italian
American Californians. In creating the Taskforce, the Assembly Resolution
recognized that Italian American immigrants were among the largest immigrant
groups to settle in California and the entire United States, and today, they are
the fifth largest ancestry group in the country. It also recognized that Italians
were among the earliest pioneers of California and have been instrumental in
the development of the country. According to the Taskforce, The Taskforce
gave Italian Americans a historic opportunity to address their issues at the state
government policy level, where many decisions that affect Italian Americans
are made.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No
SUPPORT: (Verified 8/14/24)
None received
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OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/14/24)
None received
Prepared by: Kordell Hampton / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/14/24 16:40:29
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