ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia State Board of Education said Wednesday that it believes a up-to-date Advanced Placement course in African-American studies violates state law prohibiting the teaching of divisive racial concepts and will not recommend approving the course as a state course.
Richard Woods, the state’s Republican school superintendent-elect, has not yet offered an explanation for why he is blocking approval of the course. Some districts have said they will offer the course anyway, but others have canceled their plans.
“After reviewing the content, it was clear that parts of the curriculum did indeed violate the law,” Woods said, after 10 days of raising only vague concerns.
Georgia’s ban on teaching divisive racist concepts in schools is based on a now-repealed executive order from President Donald Trump and prohibits the claim that the U.S. is “fundamentally or systematically racist.” It stipulates that no student “should feel discomfort, guilt, fear, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race.” So far, 18 states have passed such bans.
The Advanced Placement course gained national attention in 2023 when Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, said he would ban the course in his state. In June, South Carolina authorities also declined to approve the course. South Carolina said individual districts could continue to offer it.
The College Board is a nonprofit testing organization that offers Advanced Placement courses for all academic fields. Students who score well on an exam can typically earn college credit. Spokeswoman Holly Stepp said the African-American studies course is “a dynamic and challenging course grounded in academic scholarship” and denied that it aims to indoctrinate students.
“AP students are expected to analyze different perspectives as their own. No points are awarded for agreeing with a point of view on an AP exam,” Stepp said.
Woods’ claim contradicts a specific exemption in Georgia law for Advanced Placement and other tough college courses. Rep. Will Wade, a Republican from Dawsonville and a former member of the school board that authored the law, pointed to the exemption that allows such concepts in AP courses to be taught in a text message.
Even more confusing, Woods has said districts could teach the AP material and receive state funds by listing it as an introductory African American studies course approved by the state in 2020. Woods took this position after previously stating that districts would have to teach the course using only local tax dollars.
But on Wednesday, Woods said that teaching the AP material as part of the introductory course could expose a district to legal challenges under Georgia law. Thus, Woods could legally endanger districts by denying the AP course, while he could legally protect them by approving it.
“It doesn’t make sense,” said state Sen. Nikki Merritt, a Democrat from Grayson and a critic of Woods.
The superintendent said he was seeking legal advice from Attorney General Chris Carr on whether the exemption would protect the AP courses. “Should the ruling overturn my decision, I will follow the law,” Woods said in his statement. But Meghan Frick, a spokeswoman for Woods, said that does not mean Woods will recommend the course to the state Board of Education for approval if Carr’s office provides him with legal support.
Woods faced not only attacks from Democrats but also pointed questions from Republican Governor Brian Kemp. A spokesman for Kemp declined to comment on Wednesday when asked whether the governor believed the course violated state law.
If people claim a violation and it is not corrected locally, the law allows them to appeal to the state Board of Education. The board could order a plan to correct the violations, and a district could lose its exemptions from state regulations if it does not comply. Districts rely on these exemptions to set policies locally.
According to Frick, there have been no appeals to the state authority since the law came into force.
Woods, who is white, said he was particularly concerned about how the course presents the concept of intersectionality, a framework for understanding the impact of intersecting systems of discrimination or disadvantage. For example, Black women may face increased disadvantages because of their race and gender.
“If the Advanced Placement course had presented a comparative narrative with opposing views on this and other issues, one could argue 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 law to be repealed on divisive concepts. “Being black should not be a divisive concept in America,” she said in a statement.
The Atlanta, DeKalb County and Cobb County school districts have all announced that they will offer the course at some high schools.
The state’s largest district, Gwinnett County, said Tuesday that it would not offer the course, saying it would not give students the credits that an approved AP course counts toward determining whether a student qualifies for the HOPE Scholarship merit program.
