December 13, 2024—EdSource Higher Education reporters Michael Burke and Amy DiPierro speak to Senior Staff Attorney Jetaun Stevens regarding AB 1705, a law signed in 2022, that requires the California Community College system to evaluate the impact of enrolling students into calculus prerequisites and, if they can’t prove students benefit from those classes, to stop requiring or even recommending them. Some backers of the law interpret it as mandating a shift as much as possible to enrolling all STEM students directly into calculus.
In a move that already faces legal scrutiny, the chancellor’s office for the state’s community colleges issued a memo making clear that, when the law takes effect next fall, students in science, technology, engineering and math majors who haven’t passed courses like trigonometry in high school will still have the option to start college math with up to two semesters of courses that are considered preparation for calculus.
Jetaun Stevens, an attorney with the civil rights law firm Public Advocates, said the chancellor’s new directive urges colleges “to violate the law.” Stevens said the firm is still “assessing what we can do” and did not rule out a lawsuit.
“This guidance gives colleges permission to completely ignore students’ rights to be placed in calculus. It creates exceptions in the law that don’t exist,” Stevens said. “This is illegal and beyond the chancellor’s office’s authority. They don’t get to pick what part of the law they want to enforce.”
