Senate Bill 6314 seeks Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history inclusion in Washington public schools
Senate Bill 6314, prime sponsored by State Senator, T’wina Nobles, who represents the 28th Legislative District in Fircrest, is a bill to include Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) history in Washington state social studies learning standards by September 2027 and to require the instruction of AANHPI history in grades K-12 beginning in the 2028 school year. In her press statement, she stated; “We are hopeful this will be the first step in combating anti-Asian American hate, racism and bullying, and ensuring that the 280,000 AANHPI students in our state can see themselves more accurately represented.”
Washington State has a rich history of AANHPI presence. AANHPIs are the fast-growing population in the U.S., and Washington has the 4th highest population share of AANHPIs in the nation which makes up 12 percent of our state’s population. The history of AANHPIs is deeply intertwined with U.S. history, yet often forgotten or ignored in the classroom and public discourse. “Our education needs to include the ground-breaking contributions AANHPIs have made to this country and our state in all sectors - for all Washington students to see AANHPI role models, historical figures, writers, artists, scientists, and contemporary leaders included in the school context,” shared Angelie Chong, State Director of Make Us Visible Washington (MUV WA). In many school districts today, this content is simply not being taught. This education matters. In December 2023, MUV WA hosted its second AANHPI history professional development workshop for educators across the state in partnership with the Asian American Education Project and the Wing Luke Museum.
Our HAPPEN Business Resource Group (BRG) has been very supportive and appreciative of the efforts over the past year, of the work of MUV WA, in their efforts of working on community building, education, and advocacy, and engaging new community partners and organizations such as with our BRG. We believe that AANHPI history needs to be more widely taught in our schools, especially in our state with such rich and diverse history with a AANHPI Governor, elected officials, distinguished veterans, business leaders, a martial arts hero, and with national leaders in social justice.
We are excited that we now have a bill on AANHPI Education and grateful to Sen. Nobles for championing and sponsoring this bill. As a voting and civically engaged individual, you can support this legislation, but please do this on your own time or request the necessary time off to testify or advocate for this or any other bills. One opportunity coming up is the AANHPI Legislative Day on February 12 on the Capital Campus in downtown Olympia. Presentations by AANHPI elected officials and community leaders, as well meetings with legislators or their staffs are scheduled.
Bills of interest
Other bills affecting our HAPPEN community include: