The small Temecula Valley Unified School District in Southern California’s Riverside County has made a big deal out of their extremely vague ban on critical race theory, but a state appeals court just ruled that it violates the state Constitution.

We’ve noted in the past that Southern California’s Temecula Valley Unified School District tried to ban a book mentioning Harvey Milk, with a right-wing school board member calling Milk a “pedophile.” That same school board banned critical race theory in 2022, claiming that any examination of the role of race in US history “assigns moral fault to individuals solely on the basis of an individual’s race,” and that “critical race theory assigns generational guilt and racial guilt for conduct and policies that are long in the past.”

But the California Court of Appeals just shot down that ban on critical race theory, according to the Southern California News Group. The court ruled that “The Resolution’s language is ambiguous, lacks clear definitions, is unclear in scope, is seemingly irreconcilable with state-mandated educational requirements, and contains no enforcement guidelines.”

The decision comes after a lawsuit was brought by teachers, parents, and staff who felt the ban was whitewashing history.

“We believe our students deserve access to an honest education that helps them develop the knowledge and skills they need to learn, grow, and thrive,” California Teachers Association president David Goldberg said in a Tuesday statement.

Also, teachers say, they aren't even teaching critical race theory, a term from higher education that scaremongers in right-wing media circles have twisted into a non-existant conspiracy to make white children feel bad about themselves.

Per the News Group, the Temecula school board could still appeal the appellate decision by Tuesday, June 3, to have it heard by a larger panel of judges. They could also drag this thing to the California Supreme Court if they file to do so by late June.

And that may be the ultimate endgame here, as the school board is represented by a law firm whose actual name is Advocates for Faith & Freedom. That law firm claims that it “safeguards the constitutional liberties that define the United States as a beacon of freedom,” though they clearly don’t believe in freedom of speech when it comes to teaching American history.

Related: Two Conservative East Bay School Board Members Who Banned the Pride Flag Get Recalled [SFist]

Image: Wingtipvortex via Wikimedia Commons