THE SAN FRANCISCO Unified School District announced Monday that it will continue its ethnic studies program next school year, but with an interim curriculum while its existing curriculum is being reviewed and audited.

This decision follows last week’s announcement that the district would pause ethnic studies courses for the upcoming school year and a few days after the new state budget was finalized without any dollars going toward the statewide implementation of an ethnic studies curriculum.

The current curriculum was launched in 2010 as an elective course for all high school students starting in the 2015-16 school year and became a graduation requirement for ninth graders last fall. The district’s news release noted that some research has found SFUSD students who learned the existing ethnic studies curriculum had higher rates of attendance and credit accumulation.

The interim curriculum meets guidelines set by the California State Board of Education and is used by other school districts. Students in the next school year will also be able to opt out of a SFUSD two-semester mandate to enroll in ethnic studies, the district’s press release announced, so long as graduation requirements are still met.

“Educators, community members, and families” will form part of the review board that will take part in the “comprehensive” and independent audit of the district’s current ethnic studies curriculum, according to the announcement.

As reported by the San Francisco Standard, some complaints regarding the current curriculum include allegations of discrimination against white students in its discussion of the ideology of white supremacy, in addition to alleged antisemitism.

SFUSD Superintendent Maria Su said in an interview with J. The Jewish News of Northern California that the new curriculum would not include discussions on the history between Israel and Palestine, as it had been taught in the district before Hamas’ attack on Israel in 2023. About 1,200 people were killed in the attack in Israel, and the ensuing war in Gaza has thus far killed over 55,000 Palestinians, with children making up about 30% of the dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

“(The Israel-Hamas war) has brought in this fierce notion that people can bring in information that is not within the curriculum into the classroom. And this is where we’re putting our foot down.” Superintendent Maria Su

“Under my administration, we are going to focus on academic rigor and moving toward a standardized curriculum that lines up with the California Board of Education standards and guidelines,” Su told J.

She added that this war has “brought in this fierce notion that people can bring in information that is not within the curriculum into the classroom. And this is where we’re putting our foot down.”

In response to this notion, SFUSD will establish an “administrative regulation” next school year under which supplemental instructional materials must be reviewed and approved by the district before being used in ethnic studies courses.

This story originally appeared in EdSource.