Georgia superintendent says Black studies course breaks law against divisive racial teachings

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s state superintendent of schools said Wednesday that he believes a new Advanced Placement course in African American Studies violates the state’s law against teaching divisive racial concepts, explaining that is why he won’t recommend it become an approved state course.

Until now, Richard Woods, the state’s elected Republican superintendent, hadn’t explained why he was blocking approval of the course. Some districts have said they will teach it anyway, but others have canceled their plans.

“After reviewing the content, it was clear that parts of the coursework did violate the law,” Woods said after 10 days of only expressing vague concerns.

Georgia’s 2022 ban on teaching divisive racial concepts in schools, based on a now-repealed executive order from President Donald Trump, prohibits claims that the U.S. is “fundamentally or systematically racist.” It mandates that no student “should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of his or her race.” So far, 18 states have passed such bans.

The Advanced Placement course drew national scrutiny in 2023 when Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would ban the course in his state. In June, South Carolina officials also refused to approve the course. South Carolina said individual districts could still offer it.

The College Board is a nonprofit testing entity that offers Advanced Placement courses across the academic spectrum. Students who score well on an exam can usually earn college credit. Spokesperson Holly Stepp said the African American Studies class is “a dynamic and robust course that is rooted in academic scholarship,” and denied that it seeks to indoctrinate students.

“AP students are expected to analyze different perspectives from their own, and no points on an AP Exam are awarded for agreement with a viewpoint,” Stepp said.

Woods’ claim contradicts a specific exemption in Georgia law for Advanced Placement and other high-level college courses. State Rep. Will Wade, a Dawsonville Republican and former school board member who wrote the law, pointed to the carve-out allowing such concepts to be taught in AP courses in a text message.

More confoundingly, Woods has been saying that districts could teach the AP material and get state money by listing it as an introductory African American studies course approved by the state in 2020. Woods took that position after earlier saying districts would have to teach the course using only local tax money.

But Wednesday, Woods said teaching the AP material using the introductory course could expose a district to legal challenges under Georgia’s law. Thus, Woods may be imperiling districts legally by denying the AP course, while he could protect them legally by approving it.

“It makes no sense,” said state Sen Nikki Merritt, a Democrat from Grayson and critic of Woods.

The superintendent said he was seeking a legal opinion from Attorney General Chris Carr as to whether the carve-out would protect AP courses. “Should the ruling reverse my decision, then I will follow the law,” Woods said in his statement. But Meghan Frick, a spokesperson for Woods, said that doesn’t mean Woods will recommend the course for approval by the state Board of Education if Carr’s office backs it legally.

Woods has faced not only attacks from Democrats, but pointed questions from Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. A spokesperson for Kemp declined comment Wednesday when asked whether the governor believes the course violates state law.

Under the law, if people allege a violation and it isn’t resolved locally, they can appeal to the state Board of Education. The board could order a corrective action plan, and a district could lose exemptions from state rules if it didn’t comply. Districts rely on those exemptions to set policy locally.

Since the law has taken effect, Frick said there haven’t been any appeals to the state board.

Woods, who is white, said he was particularly concerned about how the course presents the concept of intersectionality. That’s a framework for understanding the effects of overlapping systems of discrimination or disadvantage. For example, Black women may face compounding disadvantages because of their race and gender.

“If the Advanced Placement course had presented a comparative narrative with opposing views on this and other topics, an argument could be made that the course did not violate Georgia law,” Woods said in a statement.

Stepp said intersectionality is one of 74 required topics in the course.

Mikayla Arciaga, who leads Georgia advocacy efforts for the Intercultural Development Research Association, called for the repeal of the divisive concepts law. “Being Black in America should not be a divisive concept,” she said in a statement.

The Atlanta, DeKalb County and Cobb County school districts have all said they will offer the course in some high schools.

The state’s largest district, Gwinnett County, said Tuesday that it wouldn’t offer the course. That is because students wouldn’t get the credit that an approved AP course brings in deciding whether a student qualifies for the HOPE Scholarship merit program.

Jeff Amy, The Associated Press