FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The new year is bringing new state laws that will have an impact on students’ education.

In an effort to keep students in the classroom learning schools will no longer be able to suspend or expel students for what is known as “willful defiance”.

The policy is defined as a student disrupting school activities or defying authority as it relates to a teacher or administrator as it impacts students in sixth through 12th grade.

The bill also mandates that educators utilize other intervention methods. Some school districts including Fresno Unified have already developed programs to address its high suspension rates of mainly African American students.

“At the time we created a task force and they look at the math and reading scores for our students we also looked at the high suspension and expulsion rates for our black students and we knew that we needed to do something to address those fundamental causes,” said Lisa Mitchell, the executive director of the African American Academic Acceleration.

Also coming in 2024 a law requiring the California Department of Education to establish LGBTQ+ cultural competency training for teachers. The new law is called the Safe and Supportive Schools Act.

Educators across the state are already taking action. The office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools recently held a workshop for local educators, which featured speakers from Trans Family Support Services.

“Our kids spend so much of their waking time at school and if they don’t feel safe to be their selves and safe to be able to share information about their identity with the people they’re spending all of these waking hours with it’s going to be very challenging for these kids to succeed,” said Kathie Moehlig for Trans Family Support Services.

The law requires that the education department have an online training program in place by the 2025 school year and it will only apply to educators who teach middle and high school students.

Changes are in store for the state’s K-12 curriculum. Content on media literacy could be added to what your child learns in the classroom. Schools will also expand instruction on Asian american, native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander history.

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