Another three states could mandate AAPI studies in K-12 curricula

By Jane Park, AsAmNews Intern

While only a few months into 2025, this may be the year the tide is gradually turning for Asian American and Pacific Islander education and representation. Three states could soon join the 11 states that have mandated teaching AAPI history and experiences in K-12 curricula.

Alaska, Arizona and Washington’s legislatures are deliberating bills that require teaching AAPI studies in their respective states. Make Us Visible—an organization that champions teaching AAPI history, contributions and experiences—has been rallying support and working with state senators to pass the bills.

In Alaska, Senate Bill 6 helps further develop the state’s existing curriculum for K-12 students. It also outlines a provision that requires learning materials to show the diversity of AAPI communities, according to Shayne Nuesca, co-director of Make Us Visible Alaska.

“We really see this type of comprehensive history education as a public safety measure, also a way to foster understanding, and just greater connection within the broader community,” Nuesca said in an interview with AsAmNews “When I had the opportunity previously to witness or to observe (the) Filipino American History Education Unit, the engagement that I saw among those students both AAPI, non-AAPI, is something I really hope Alaska students can experience throughout the state.”

After the class ended, Nuesca said students came and asked questions to understand how their own histories aligned with AAPIs. The advocate added that history education helps combat anti-Asian and Pacific Islander hate that Alaska has seen in the past several years.

Working with the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, Make Us Visible Alaska has helped push the bill forward by gathering public support through letters and testimonies to the Education Committee.

(supporters on day of testimonies, Nuesca center in second row and Jackson center top row)

Yet Gray-Jackson not only serves as the bill’s sponsor, but actually introduced the bill’s predecessor which set the stage. In 2023, Gray-Jackson introduced Senate Bill 131.

Though not AAPI herself, Gray-Jackson decided to take on the bill a couple years ago after Seo Eun Ji, the Consul General of South Korea in Seattle, met with the senator to propose mandating AAPI education in Alaska following New Jersey’s passage of its own bill.

As a New Jersey native, Gray-Jackson immediately embraced the idea.

“I decided to take it on because it just made sense to me,” Gray-Jackson told AsAmNews. “Because Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, they played a significant role in shaping our state and our nation. For that matter, their history and their contributions have often been overlooked in traditional curricular…the students will be able to gain a fuller and more comprehensive understanding and respect of the diverse culture, history and contributions that have helped build our community.”

The bill passed through the Senate with bipartisan support until it was killed in the House of Representatives, which had a Republican-majority at the time. But Gray-Jackson is confident the current bill will “make it to the finish line.”

Introduced in January, Senate Bill 6 has been a success so far in the legislature. It reached unanimous support in the Education Committee. Make Us Visible will meet with most of the legislative body to continue advocating for the bill.

Like Alaska, Arizona’s Senate Bill 1301 is also a culmination of years-long efforts to implement AAPI studies. 

Make Us Visible Arizona is working with OCA Greater Phoenix, who initiated a bill to require AAPI education four years ago.

OCA Greater Phoenix is a member of the greater OCA, one of the oldest AANHPI advocacy organizations in the country. Founded in 1973, it was known then as the Organization of Chinese Americans before going by its acronym for inclusivity after the rising immigration of Asian Pacific groups during the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

The Phoenix chapter tried to help pass a bill on teaching AAPI studies twice before it fell through both times. 

Yet The Grand Canyon State still holds pieces of AAPI history: Poston, AZ was the site of a major imprisonment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II, and The Arizona Power Service, the largest energy provider in the state, was founded by Japanese immigrant Hachiro Onuki.

“(We) want people to know that we have a very, very high level of contributions to the society, and so then we will gain respect through education,” said Astria Wong, interim director of Make Us Visible Arizona and president of OCA Greater Phoenix, during an interview with AsAmNews.

Wong feels teaching AAPI studies is a nonpartisan issue, yet noticed that Democrats have voted against the bill in the past.

“I don’t understand, and we are really trying hard to see how we can make it change,” Wong said. “Because when we did the bill, the supporters of both Republican(s) and Democrat(s) were the sponsors. So we have two sponsors, Democrat and Republican. But when they get on the floor, it’s the Democrats against it. So hopefully this year, we can come up with some strategy.”

Having passed through the Education Committee, the bill will be debated and voted on the Senate floor next week before it moves onto the House of Representatives.

Some legislators’ criticisms of AAPI studies, according to Wong, include how because Latino and Black studies are not mandated, AAPI education should not yet be in place. But Wong said the advocates plan to reach out to indigenous groups for assistance after they pushed to integrate Native studies into K-12 curricula.

Another criticism is that AAPI studies should not be implemented at a state legislative level but instead should be within the purview of school boards.

“But it doesn’t make sense because I believe that we have 230 some school boards in Arizona. To try to get each board to pass it, it will be a long time before it will get passed,” Wong said. “We don’t have the time.”

Advocates also met with an association of teachers, who said during a Zoom call they did not want teachers spending too much time on a task they would be unpaid for.

“To me that is a very lame excuse,” Wong said.

Make Us Visible Washington is also not a stranger to criticism and pushback; the organization swung into action, organizing widespread support for the bill, 5574.

Angelie Chong, director of Make Us Visible Washington, was walking with her kids after getting boba when a car slowed down beside them. The driver shouted at them and pulled and slanted her eyes before driving off. Chong said this was during the COVID-19 pandemic when anti-Asian hate crimes and sentiment catapulted across the United States.

When hearing about New Jersey mandating AAPI studies, Chong thought that could be the answer to educating people.

“Students and people just don’t seem to have the information, and they just don’t know how long we’ve been around, and how we’ve been part of shaping so many things in this country, like policy and just about every industry you think of, yet we’re still viewed as foreign,” Chong told AsAmNews.

While Washington statutes recommend that school districts teach ethnic studies and provide resources to do so, Chong said AANHPI communities are often left out. As soon as the Make Us Visible Washington chapter was up and running at the end of 2022, the group immediately got to work.

They connected with other nonprofit groups like the Asian American Education Project, hosted professional development workshops for instructors, spoke with educators, ethnic studies experts and various AANHPIs, especially Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, as many are populated in Washington. In a letter of support for the bill, Make Us Visible collected signatures from 61 AANHPI organizations. 

The bill specifically disaggregates terms to highlight the diversity of the AANHPI diaspora and includes language that conveys the urgency of the issue, emphasizing that education can prevent hate-based violence.

Eventually, Senate Bill 5574 was introduced, and it’s now sitting in the Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee. 

But Chong said the bill’s supporters were “outraged” by the committee’s Feb. 18 public hearing where people were invited to provide testimonies. While 39 people signed up to speak, (37 of whom were there to speak favorably while the remaining were neither for nor against),Chong said the committee’s chairwoman, Sen. Lisa Wellman, only allowed 23 minutes for testimonies.

“We went out in the hall, and we let people share their testimony. We recorded them, we’ve been sharing it on our Instagram, so people can at least hear their stories,” Chong said. “And today would have been a (committee) meeting, but the senator canceled today’s meeting…So we were outraged that that was like a token gesture for us to have garnered that much support.”

Wellman was also to sponsor the predecessor bill, Senate Bill 6314, until backing out. Sen. T’wina Nobles tagged on instead and remained on the current bill.

(supporters on morning of the hearing, Chong is center left holding poster)

The committee’s process has left advocates feeling “invisible” and “ignored.”

Make Us Visible was then told the bill would not be getting out of the committee. While it will stay alive through 2026, the bill will not pass if it stays in the committee by the end of the biennium. But Chong has hope and said the bill is not necessarily dead.

Supporters are still trying to communicate with the committee, sending emails, meeting with Gov. Bon Ferguson’s office and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and thinking of ways to help move the bill along.

In addition to facing roadblocks within the legislature, Make Us Visible also faced some opposition from other advocacy organizations.

In a separate tally of support for Senate Bill 5574, Make Us Visible noticed names that listed themselves as cons. The group then quickly rallied to find more pros, which was achieved by the deadline. One of the opposition groups included the Republican Women of Whatcom County.

The group did not respond to requests for a comment from AsAmNews.

Chong said that another group, the Family Policy Institute of Washington, also posted an action alert on its website that incorrectly described the bill and encouraged people to vote con, prompting Make Us Visible to take action.

The director noted that nonetheless, public testimonies at hearings, which require a more organized effort, bear more importance than tallies. Most bills are also not heard with only about 12% being passed during a legislative session.

With opposition to ethnic studies comes support as well.

The THINC Foundation, identifies as a nonpartisan non-profit that aims to combat liberated ethnic studies, which draws upon critical race theory, and supports parents to be aware of what is being taught in classrooms.

THINC supports grassroots efforts by researching, speaking with media and spreading awareness on social media. It also conducted a survey showing parental attitudes toward liberated ethnic studies and ethnic studies.

In an interview with AsAmNews, CEO and founder Mitch Siegler clarified the foundation supports ethnic studies being taught in K-12 classrooms.

“Ethnic studies, as I understand it, is really a bridge building exercise to help create more understanding and awareness of different cultures and different histories and ethnic backgrounds, recognizing that America is a melting pot,” Siegler said. “And we are so many different ethnicities and cultures and languages and histories, and by virtue of having a better understanding of that, we can know each other better and be a more pluralistic nation and have a more civic and healthy society.”

Siegler said THINC supports the senate bills in Alaska, Arizona and Washington.

“You know we’re all for that,” Siegler said “We’re all completely supportive of states identifying opportunities to provide more education around the history and struggles and achievements and contributions of any ethnic group…It’s healthy, it’s appropriate, it’s great.”

Siegler’s only concern is that a state will mandate highlighting the history and achievements of one ethnic group, but not others. He’d also like to see guard rails in place to prevent teachers from deviating from the bills’ intentions.

With months remaining until the state legislative sessions conclude, Make Us Visible and supporters are eyeing the senate bills that could preserve AAPI history and contributions within Alaska, Arizona and Washington’s curricula.

(Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that SB6 in Alaska had reached the Senate floor. It has not. We regret the error. Further changes have been made to elaborate on and clarify some points)