Board adopts limited waiver to help some students meet graduation while strengthening ethnic-studies rollout
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Summary
The Santa Ana Unified board adopted a resolution creating a narrowly tailored waiver pathway so certain students (credit-recovery, alternative-education, McKinney-Vento, newcomers, foster youth) can meet graduation requirements while the district addresses course access and teacher training; the motion passed 4-1.
After extended public comment and trustee debate, the Santa Ana Unified School District Board of Education on Tuesday adopted Resolution No. 25-26-3725, a measure that keeps the district's local 10-unit ethnic-studies graduation expectation but adds a narrowly defined waiver process for limited student groups to avoid blocking graduation during the current implementation year.
Board member (and motion-maker) Hector Bustos said he "undeniably believe[s] the survivors who came forward" and voiced support for ethnic studies as a core requirement, but he and others also emphasized the need for temporary relief for specific students who lack access to consecutive semester offerings. "I will not support any effort to reduce our local requirement of 10 credits," Bustos said, but he added that implementation challenges meant a one-year waiver mechanism was needed to prevent students from being held back.
Trustee Miss Lebsack registered the lone dissent, arguing the state did not fund AB 101 and warning of ideological and legal concerns. "Until these issues such as funding, educational purpose, ideological neutrality, and legal risk are fully addressed, I cannot support this resolution," she said during debate.
District staff and the academic team explained the waiver is intended only for narrowly specified circumstances: students in credit-recovery who cannot otherwise make up semesterized courses, students enrolled in alternative-education graduation pathways (the 170-credit option), McKinney-Vento (homeless) students, newcomer English learners and foster youth who are covered by state provisions to use the state minimum graduation requirement. The resolution was amended on the floor to strike deficit language and to remove references implying a state mandate where none exists, and trustees agreed the waiver approach will be revisited after one year.
The board approved the motion 4-1 (Miss Lebsack opposed). The resolution includes direction to monitor semester results and to report back at natural semester checkpoints; staff said they will provide a midyear and end-of-year analysis showing how many waivers were requested and why, and will continue to expand professional development and scheduling options so students can complete the full 10 units without reliance on waivers.
Trustees and staff described immediate remedies being pursued, including trial summer or online offerings and an "Apex" online recovery option in the short term and development of more robust semester offerings and teacher training for the longer term.
Next steps: staff will finalize administrative-regulation language implementing the waiver criteria, report semesterly on waiver use and outcomes, and return to the board for a data review in one year.
