Abstract

Excerpted From: Angelica Félix-D'Egidio, Education Inequity for Mixtec Students in California Public Schools: A Human Rights Approach to Educating Indigenous Students Not Recognized by the U.S. Government, 40 Chicana/o-Latina/o Law Review 125 (2024) (275 Footnotes) (Full Document)

By establishing minimum standards for the survival, dignity, and well-being of all Indigenous peoples, the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (U.N. Declaration) presents a compelling human rights framework through which to assess and scrutinize the education provided to Indigenous K-12 students in the California public education system. Native American students in California public schools have access to exclusive education programs and protections under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which parallel--to a limited extent--the rights of Indigenous peoples promulgated in the U.N. Declaration. However, the statutory definition of American Indian precludes Indigenous communities that lack recognition by the U.S. government from eligibility for Indian Education Programs under the ESSA. Consequently, in California public schools, Indigenous children from south of the imposed border are unable to access the educational benefits of programs and services made available to Native American students under the ESSA, thereby disparaging their right of self-determination. However, the availability of educational programs and services designed to support the academic achievement of Native American students does not, by any means, denote that they, too, are not marginalized by the California public education system. Instead, evaluating the educational rights and protections of Native Americans in contrast to Indigenous Latine populations can invoke a greater understanding of the means by which multifaceted mechanisms of discrimination within the education system operate to exclude communities with shared histories of oppression. By illuminating their commonalities, Native American and Indigenous Latine communities can begin to converge around a collective goal founded in the well-being and survival of their communities: ensuring their children receive access to a culturally responsive and linguistically appropriate education.

Ergo, this Comment will evaluate the educational experiences of Indigenous Latine communities in the California public education system through the human rights framework set forth in the U.N. Declaration. Part I describes the human rights framework of the U.N. Declaration and highlights the education rights and protections afforded to Native American students from state and federally-recognized tribes. Part II overviews the historical and political context of Indigenous Latine student education in the California public education system in addition to examining their experiences at various intersections, including immigrant status and English language proficiency. Part III offers a case study of Mixtec-speaking Indigenous Mexican students in a California public school district to assess their educational experiences under the human rights framework of the U.N. Declaration as well as the ESSA. Part IV explores several policy recommendations that can serve to advance educational equity for Indigenous Latine immigrant students.

A Human Rights Framework to Indigenous Student Education and Corresponding Rights for Students from Federally Recognized Tribes in California Public Schools

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This Comment highlights the systemic failure of California's public education system to provide culturally responsive, linguistically appropriate, and identity-affirming education to Indigenous Mexican students. Due to constrictive demarcations of “American Indian” under federal and state education law, pupils from Indigenous communities in Mexico, who attend California public schools, are impeded from availing themselves of the benefits made available to Native American children pursuant to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The repercussions of the narrow definition of “American Indian” shaped by the U.S. government, in conjunction with the exclusion of Indigenous Mexican students from the safeguards and programs that are extended to state or federally-acknowledged Native Americans, have given rise to far-reaching ramifications. Consequently, Indigenous Mexican students occupy a marginalized position within the California public education system and are afflicted by system discrimination, placing them far from the hopeful aspirations of attaining a culturally responsive, linguistically appropriate, and identity-affirming education.

Angelica Félix-D'Egidio is a J.D. Candidate, Class of 2024, at UCLA School of Law.