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In their remaining days of state control, Michigan Democrats are pushing legislation they say would make history curriculums in K-12 public schools more culturally inclusive.
The most significant bill would require all public school districts in the state to include at least one unit of instruction a year on the histories of African, Latino, Arab, and Native Americans, among other racial and cultural groups, in their curricula. The lessons would be included in existing history classes by the 2027-28 school year and cover the discrimination the groups have faced and their fights for civil rights.
Another bill would require all teachers in the state complete cultural competency training that covers issues like implicit bias and the importance of inclusion in education.
“Amidst the recent national wave restricting what can be taught in classrooms, we have the opportunity now in Michigan to support and stand with teachers who want to do right by their students and teach comprehensive and accurate history,” Henry Duong, who leads Teach MI History, a campaign that has advocated for inclusive history instruction since 2022, said in a prepared statement.
Rep. Ranjeev Puri, a Democrat from Canton who co-sponsored the legislation, said the new curriculum goes beyond teaching history.
“We are fostering empathy, cultural awareness, and the critical thinking skills our students need to thrive in an interconnected world,” he said.
Similar legislation was introduced in 2022 but failed to move forward.
Despite that, the proposed curriculum was piloted in some schools this year. The Michigan Department of Education, or MDE, also began developing guidelines for the curriculum this year.
Here is what the package of bills would do:
- Require school districts ensure existing history classes include at least one unit of instruction on the histories of African Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Latino Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Caribbean Americans, Native Americans, Arab Americans, Chaldean Americans, North African Americans, and Jewish Americans. The requirement would begin in the 2027-28 school year and would apply to all public K-12 schools in the state.
- Require the lessons include contributions made by those communities, the discrimination they have faced, and advancements in their civil rights. The lessons would be crafted to be age appropriate.
- Call on the MDE to create instructional material that would be available to schools to use as guidelines for lessons.
- Require educators to receive cultural competency training, which would cover issues such as implicit bias, the importance of inclusion, and the struggles experienced by communities of color. The MDE would be required to create the professional development material and make it available to schools by June 2026.
- Require all educators who have contact with students to complete the training by the 2027-28 school year.
- Create a cultural history advisory board within the MDE to provide recommendations on the K-12 curriculum and professional development material. The members of the board would be appointed by the superintendent of public instruction and would include people from all of the communities represented in the proposed curriculum as well as educators, experts, and stakeholders.
Three of the bills in the package were introduced at the end of November in the Senate and the other three were introduced in the House this week. They have all been referred to education committees in the legislature.
The bills would need to clear several hurdles before becoming law by the end of the session.
Democrats are working to move their legislative priorities forward before the end of the year, when they will lose control of the House.
The party’s other remaining legislative education goals include charter school transparency, measures to prevent school violence, changes to sex education, and protections for Indigenous students.
Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.
