Sign our Petition to the Connecticut State Department of Education and the State Board of Education!
https://www.votervoice.net/FICT/Petitions/6691/Respond
Yes, with no public hearing or separate bill, each legislator who voted for this budget bill, also voted for Section 24 of Public Act 26-1, to require the State Board of Education develop and promote curriculum devoted to Islamic and Arab studies. See how your legislators voted below . . .
FIC Calls for Transparency on Connecticut’s New Islamic and Arab Studies Curriculum
Family Institute of Connecticut Action has sent a letter to the Connecticut State Board of Education and Department of Education calling for an open and lawful process as the state develops new Islamic and Arab studies curriculum materials.
Section 24 of Public Act 26-1 requires the State Board of Education to make these materials available to local school districts and to encourage districts to provide the instruction.
This provision that became law passed during the 2026 session as part of a 98-section emergency-certified bill. It received no committee hearing or public testimony during the session in which it was enacted!
That makes transparency during the curriculum-development process especially important.
Optional Guidance Can Become a Mandate
The new law does not require every school district to teach Islamic and Arab studies. However, it does require the State Board to encourage districts to offer the instruction.
School boards often treat official guidance from the State Department of Education as an authoritative statement of what the law requires. Materials described as “optional” can quickly become mandatory in practice, especially when they are promoted through state training, technical assistance, complaint investigations, district reviews, or funding decisions.
That is why we sent a letter notifying the authorities that we are watching.
Connecticut’s Uniform Administrative Procedure Act, known as the UAPA, applies to agency statements of general application that implement or prescribe state policy. Courts look at how an agency policy actually operates, not merely what the agency calls it.
The UAPA requires public notice, disclosure of the proposed regulation and its legal authority, an opportunity for public comment and hearing, legal and legislative review, and formal approval before the regulation takes effect. We will keep our members updated on the UAPA process.
Arab Studies Must Include Religious Minorities
Arab identity is not synonymous with Islam. Arab communities include Muslims, Christians, Jews, members of other faiths, and people of no faith. Arab Christians have made major contributions to the region’s history, literature, education, and culture. Jewish communities also lived throughout the Arab world for centuries and contributed to its religious, commercial, intellectual, and civic life.
Included in our letter is insistence that accurate curriculum must include these communities and address the displacement and migration experienced by many Arab Christians and Jews. The Arab world should not be presented as religiously uniform, and no single religious or advocacy organization should be treated as speaking for all Muslims or Arabs.
Sign our Petition to the Connecticut State Department of Education and the State Board of Education!
