Georgia superintendent says Black studies course can be taught after legal opinion

Georgia’s Superintendent of Schools Richard Woods now says that school districts may teach a new Advanced Placement course in African American Studies after all, now that Georgia's attorney general said the state's law against teaching divisive racial concepts specifically exempts such college-level courses.

Woods said Wednesday that a letter from Attorney General Chris Carr to a Republican state lawmaker “completed the clarification process” for him. Woods had cited the law in refusing to recommend the course be added to the state's course catalog.

Woods, an elected Republican, said the state will now consider all AP and similar college-level courses to be automatically adopted. This means that after weeks of controversy, Woods won't have to recommend the African American studies course be officially adopted, and members of the state Board of Education won't have to vote on the question.

“In compliance with this opinion, the AP African American Studies course will be added to the state-funded course catalog effective immediately,” Woods said, although he said there would be a disclaimer saying the state hadn't reviewed the material.

Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, confirmed Friday in a letter to state Rep. Will Wade that Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and dual-enrollment courses are explicitly exempted from the law, which Wade and other critics of Woods’ decision had pointed out. Wade, a Dawsonville Republican, wrote the 2022 measure.

“I'm excited that students who want to seek challenging and rigorous courses will have the ability to do so,” Wade said Wednesday.

Woods' evolving positions on the question led some districts to drop their plans to teach it without formal state approval. A lack