A judge has found a “legal defect” in an ethnic studies requirement included in proposed new social studies standards for Minnesota schools, though his decision is under further review.

For the past three years, the Minnesota Department of Education has been pushing for new standards in K-12 schools which would include ethnic studies along with other traditional social studies topics like history and civics.

The state is required by law to revise its school academic standards every decade, and in the current round of revisions, a proposed requirement for ethnic studies in schools across the state has been politically controversial.

Supporters say ethnic studies standards will help students gain a broader understanding of the world and develop critical thinking skills, while critics have described them as a Trojan Horse for radical leftist ideology.

In a decision announced Friday, Administrative Law Judge Eric Lipman found a legal issue with the ethnic studies component, though the court has not yet released his opinion or details on the “deficiency” he found.

Lipman was assessing whether education officials had gone through the proper process to change standards, whether the standards adhered to law and if the changes were reasonable and necessary.

Case goes to chief judge

The case is now in the hands of Chief Judge Jenny Starr, who will review Lipman’s report and the proposed standards. Court spokesperson Kendra Schmit said Starr will prepare a report on her findings within 10 days, and both reports will be released at the same time on or before Jan. 15.

It’s yet another step in an already lengthy process of redoing state education standards, which started during the 2020-2021 school year.

Lipman held hearings on the new rule in November. His as-of-now unreleased ruling comes a month after education officials responded to feedback.

St. Paul and Minneapolis public schools will already require ethnic studies as a graduation requirement starting in 2025. If Starr approves the Department of Education standards, they would likely go into effect for the 2026-2027 school year.

What’s in the standards?

Minnesota last adopted social studies standards in 2011. They include rules on subjects like civics, economics, geography and history — but not ethnic studies.

The proposed ethnic studies requirement in the new standards includes three major components:

An identity component where students analyze how “power and language construct the social identities of race, religion, geography, ethnicity, and gender,” and apply those understandings to their own identity and others in Minnesota “centering those whose stories and histories have been marginalized, erased or ignored.”

A component called “resistance” will have students look at freedom and liberation struggles against “systemic and coordinated exercises of power locally and globally,” and “identify strategies or times that have resulted in lasting change.” Another component says students will “organize with others to engage in activities that could further the rights and dignity of all.”

The third portion, methodologies, calls on students to use “ use ethnic and Indigenous studies methods and sources in order to understand the roots of contemporary systems of oppression and apply lessons from the past in order to eliminate historical and contemporary injustices.”

Examples of benchmarks for the new standards include asking kindergarteners to describe their personal identity, including “region, race, language, gender, family, ethnicity, culture, religion and ability,” and to identify something their community or family have fought for or against.

Fourth graders would be asked to analyze “anti-colonial and anti-racist resistance movements of culturally, racially and ethnically diverse people throughout the world.”

High school students would “examine the characteristics of freedom movements and “develop an analysis of racial capitalism, political economy, anti-Blackness, (and) Indigenous sovereignty.”

Why change?

Proponents of the new ethnic studies requirement say younger students will benefit from an education that does not gloss over the uncomfortable truths of American society, such as the legacy of slavery and segregation, the displacement of Native Americans by settlers and racial inequality.

By examining these things, students will develop stronger critical thinking skills and a more complete understanding of the world they live in, proponents say.

“These new standards bring much-needed changes for students’ learning, centered on reflecting the lived experiences of a growing diverse Minnesota student population,” said teachers’ group Educators for Excellence in a comment supporting the new standards. “It creates a more well-rounded learning experience for the future leaders in
our society.”

Critics of the new ethnic studies requirement in the social studies standards say the ethnic studies requirement introduces divisive concepts into the curriculum and serves as a vehicle to subtly inject leftist political theory into K-12 instruction.

The conservative Minnesota think tank Center of the American Experiment has described the ethnic studies requirement as a “sneaky new way to stoke racial division in schools,” and to undermine trust in American institutions by painting society as power struggles between groups.

There also were questions from Republican legislators about whether the standards were legal, as past law only included history, geography, economics, and government and citizenship in the definition of social studies.

But that could change, as the Democratic-Farmer-Labor controlled Legislature in 2023 passed a law specifically requiring ethnic studies in schools by in 2026-2027.

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