Dateline Sacramento – State Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (D-Culver City/Crenshaw District) has introduced legislation to authorize and protect the establishment of single gender academies and educational programs, immediately after being sworn in to serve a new two-year term.

“Under a new Trump administration, public education must innovate to survive,” said Mr. Ridley-Thomas.

“We must move swiftly to improve learning outcomes and restore the public trust in community schools.”

As an alumnus of Morehouse College and Loyola High School, both single gender institutions, Mr. Ridley-Thomas’s own educational experiences inform his decision to introduce this legislation.

“Morehouse and Loyola created an environment that was conducive to learning, self-respect, and achievement,” he said. “Every child in Los Angeles should have access to this same opportunity in the public school system.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District has moved forward with the opening of the Girls Academic Leadership Academy, focusing on science, technology, engineering, and math, notwithstanding the legal uncertainty surrounding its opening.

The Ridley-Thomas bill, AB 23, is intended to protect that model.

Already, examples of single gender public charter schools, such as the Urban Prep Academies in Chicago, Illinois, have proven vital for the educational development of young men from diverse backgrounds and resulted in an outcome where 100 percent of Urban Prep graduates have been admitted to four-year colleges. Research has shown that girls from single-gender schools have a greater level of confidence in math and computer science skills than in a coed setting.

Mr. Lucien may be contacted at darryl.lucien@asm.ca.gov