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Advanced Placement African American Studies may not be widely available in Georgia next year, after the state superintendent withheld approval for the course in 2024–25. School districts can offer the course anyway but won’t receive any state funding to pay for it—making it much more difficult to justify in low-income districts.
Thirty-three school districts in Georgia offered the course last year, according to data from the College Board, the nonprofit owner of the AP program. It’s not clear how many will continue to do so in the fall.
It’s not the first time the embattled course, introduced in 2022, has been blocked by Republican state officials. In 2023 Florida governor Ron DeSantis banned the course in its pilot year, and Arkansas refused to approve it for state funding. Last month South Carolina also withheld approval for the 2024–25 academic year.
The College Board has faced criticism for its handling of the controversy around the new AP offering, much of which stems from debates over public schools teaching critical race theory and the history of racial oppression in America. Last February, after Florida scrapped the exam, the College Board released a framework for AP African American Studies that removed the word “systemic” from descriptions of racism and marginalization, a move many viewed as kowtowing to right-wing critics. Two months later, the College Board reversed its decision and made comprehensive updates to the framework, released in December.
