Honoring Education Austin's Ken Zarifis—A Champion of Public Education Who Now Needs Our Support

Friends:

On June 4th, longtime Education Austin President Ken Zarifis was critically injured in a devastating car accident that sent him to the Emergency Room in critical condition. He has since undergone reconstructive surgery to the right side of his face and body and remains in the ICU, where he is under close care by nurses and doctors. His recovery will be long and arduous, involving additional surgeries, physical therapy, and intensive rehabilitation.

Ken has been a tireless advocate for Austin’s public schools, teachers, and students for decades. From organizing against the IDEA charter school takeover in East Austin to helping flip the AISD school board in 2012, Ken’s leadership has demonstrated the power of grassroots, local organizing. Under his stewardship, Education Austin—affiliated with both Texas AFT and the Texas State Teachers Association—has won major victories: securing districtwide pay raises, defending safe and manageable working conditions, and advancing inclusive policies for LGBTQ and immigrant communities. Through DACA clinics, citizenship drives, and coalition-building at the Capitol, he has stood unwaveringly for justice and public education.

Ken is also a single father of three, one of whom he still cares for at home. His children—who love him deeply—are doing their best to support one another as he fights to heal. In addition to the emotional toll, the family faces enormous financial pressures. Helping his children manage daily life and covering the costs of ongoing medical treatment will require all the community support we can offer.

If you’ve ever been moved by Ken’s work—or if you believe in the kind of community-rooted, fearless leadership he represents—please consider contributing to support his recovery and his family during this extraordinarily difficult time.

🩵 GoFundMe: Support Ken Zarifis’ Family and Recovery
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-ken-zarifis-family-and-recovery

Let us now stand for the person who has stood for so many of us. Your support—whether through donations, sharing the campaign, or lifting Ken and his family in your thoughts—can make all the difference.

I’m also honored to share a powerful story by Brant Bingamon in The Austin Chronicle on Ken and Education Austin’s incredible legacy of advocacy and transformation in our schools. Ken, we love you and need you to get well and be well more than ever! 💗

–Angela Valenzuela

Austin’s Powerful Education Union Celebrates 25 Years of Fighting for Teachers’ Voices
Leader Ken Zarifis talks “hard-work magic” of public education

by Brant Bingamon, Fri., June 13, 2025

Education Austin’s leader Ken Zarifis speaks in 2023 (photo by Jana Birchum)

Ken Zarifis remembers when Education Austin, the union representing Austin’s public school teachers and staff, first began to push Austin ISD’s board of trustees. It was 2011 and AISD was considering whether to allow a charter school to take over Allan Elementary on the city’s Eastside.

The plan was for the IDEA charter school to begin with Allan Elementary, then take over Martin Middle School, and, eventually, former Johnston High School, to bring up the schools’ test scores. Public school supporters were furious. Zarifis went to the school board trustee representing his neighborhood and asked her to oppose the plan. Zarifis and other members of Education Austin filled the board of trustees’ public meeting on the night of the vote to speak against it. The trustees still approved the takeover 6-3.

“I’ll never forget it,” Zarifis said. “We started chanting, 'We will vote you out! We will vote you out!’ We went outside, we were all in this big circle, and we said, 'We have to start looking for people to flip the board, for candidates.’ By February, we’d found four people.”

Three of the four – Gina Hinojosa, Jayme Mathias, and Ann Teich – won their elections the next fall, flipping the board against the takeover. At their first meeting in December of 2012, the trustees canceled the district’s contract with IDEA. The takeover of Allan Elementary lasted four months.
“It’s all about local. That’s all that matters to me. I can’t do a damn thing about national stuff, but I can do a lot locally and that’s what I lean into.”– Education Austin’s Ken Zarifis

“I’d never seen electoral politics work in such a local and direct fashion,” Zarifis said. “They terminated it on the first night that they were all sitting there. You suddenly see: We’ve got power.”

That wasn’t always the case for Education Austin, which has been celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Zarifis’ predecessor, Louis Malfaro, who served as the organization’s president starting in 1999, when the Austin Federation of Teachers and Austin Association of Teachers merged to create EA, said the board of trustees was not necessarily a progressive body during his tenure, that the union needed to assert its power. “We used to be nothing,” Malfaro said. “The teachers in the city, we didn’t run the show. West Austin ran the show. The Chamber of Commerce ran the show.”

It’s been different since the IDEA charter school fight. Zarifis estimates that the union’s preferred candidates have only lost two or three of the trustee races in which the union has endorsed since 2012. All nine of the current trustees were endorsed by the union. District leaders consult with Education Austin so often that it is almost an arm of the district itself. “Ken’s like the 10th school board member,” Malfaro said.

Education Austin has used that influence to fight for districtwide pay increases for teachers and staff, reduced workloads, shared decision-making, and safe working conditions. “They’ve been very successful in advocating for raises for teachers and classified staff,” Ann Teich said. “They’ve also been very successful in advocating for a workday that is manageable – you know, a duty-free lunch and that kind of thing, something I always appreciated when I was a teacher. They’ve also been successful in advocating at the Legislature to some degree.”

Morgan Craven remembers partnering with Education Austin at the state Capitol in 2017. Craven, who at the time was working for the social justice nonprofit Texas Appleseed, had seen federal data showing that young students, disproportionately black children and those with disabilities, were being suspended from school at rates higher than other kids. She wanted to change state law to limit the suspensions.

Craven had no background in education so Zarifis introduced her to his community. “He was like, 'Okay, we’re doing this – let’s do it,’” Craven said. “He got teachers involved in the advocacy. We were working with young people in the advocacy. We were working directly with the district in the advocacy. And I don’t know if that was on his agenda, to suddenly devote this much time to this particular issue, but he just jumped into it.” The advocates got a law passed to limit out-of-school suspensions for young students. The reform was undone this session with the approval of House Bill 6, which once again makes it easier for teachers to suspend students.

“We used to be nothing. The teachers in the city, we didn’t run the show.”– Former Education Austin President Louis Malfaro

Louis Malfaro back in 2010 (Photo by John Anderson)

Education Austin’s vice president Trasell Underwood remembers the leaders who put it on the map, starting with Malfaro, who worked out a consultation agreement with the district allowing the union to discuss wages and working conditions. She praised other EA leaders who recognized the power that would come from merging the previous unions into one entity. She recalled how former VP Montserrat Garibay helped Education Austin organize DACA clinics and citizenship drives, where families sat down with attorneys to begin the process of becoming citizens. She said it was members of the union who pushed the district to support its LGBTQ workers and students by participating in Pride celebrations. “It was Education Austin that went to the district and forced the conversation,” she said.

Zarifis joined the union soon after taking a job as an English teacher at Burnet Middle School in 1998. Today, the school is threatened with a charter school takeover, just like Allan Elementary was in 2012. The state of Texas, through the Texas Education Agency, is forcing AISD to replace the leadership and about half the teachers at Burnet, Webb, and Dobie middle schools in an effort to improve the schools’ test scores. If the scores don’t come up by December, the schools will be handed to charter school management, starting in 2026. The district is planning to close and consolidate other schools.

It’s a crisis that Education Austin has repeatedly confronted during Zarifis’ tenure as president. In 2012, the union partnered with Gina Hinojosa, who had just been elected president of the AISD board of trustees, to save Johnston High School from being closed. (The school was renamed Eastside Early College High School in 2008.)

“I met with Education Austin and other community advocates every week for that whole school year, working to make sure we were on top of ensuring that school would stay open,” said Hinojosa, now a state representative. “At the high school graduation ceremony, the TEA commissioner announced they had met accountability standards. It was just the coolest community effort when it succeeded. But Education Austin was there and that’s how I knew they were a reliable ally and partner.”

Zarifis stresses that it is the union’s focus on local organizing that has made it effective in a state that is adamantly anti-union. “It’s all about local,” Zarifis said. “That’s all that matters to me. I can’t do a damn thing about national stuff, but I can do a lot locally and that’s what I lean into. Most of the stuff that impacts our lives day-to-day happens locally – what the City Council does, what the school board does.”

Zarifis said this is one of the things he loves about public education – that ultimately it’s a grassroots, community-led enterprise. “It’s the most glorious thing. There’s no institution that’s more magnificent, as flawed as as our public school system is, in creating the future, every bit of it. Show me one other institution that’s creating the future. That’s like magic shit. It’s so otherworldly, but it’s hard work. It’s not like a magic-wand kind of magic. It’s hard-work magic.”

Every public educator refuses to come back to their schools in the fall unless... by Dr. David Berliner

Now here's a proposal put out by my dear friend and colleague, Dr. David Berliner, writing for the Horace Mann League Newsletter. According to Texas AFT, citing Texas Digital Reporter, Chandler France, 

"Over the last 22 years, Texas has had about 5 school shootings per year — for a total of 103 school shootings. We can’t tolerate this for a single moment longer."

My only amendment here is that our community-based organizations and coalitions are poised to stand with our teachers. Yes, all teachers should absolutely join our unions and teacher associations so that their voices can get heard. In addition, they should partner with community as we have the long-term, reciprocal relationships that allow us to catalyze an issue of great concern that goes against our values, enabling effective action.

So teachers, yes mobilize, and know that we in the community are here to help and stand by you.

Thanks, David, for sharing this and for always pushing the envelope. And thanks to the Texas AFT, Texas State Teachers Association, and Education Austin, the National Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers for their bold and courageous leadership on behalf of our children, teachers, and schools against senseless violence impacting our children, youth, and teachers throughout our state and nation's schools.

Peace/paz,

-Angela Valenzuela

#guncontrol #gunsense #nra #Uvalde @txstateteachers @NEAToday 

@TexasAFT #Uvalde #UvaldeStrong

 

Every public educator refuses to come back to their schools in the fall unless . . by 

David C. Berliner

ASU Professor Emeritus and HML Board Member

 

Educators are not nearly as politically active as they should be, though most have communitarian values and want good things for their communities, especially for the parents and the kids they serve. 

1.      Teachers often lobby for food programs, housing programs, increased counseling programs, and the like. But it’s now time to lobby for something bigger and more fundamental: It’s time to lobby for their lives.

2.      Teachers, and the children they work so hard to shape into productive citizens, deserve protection as well as our praise and sympathy. To get that protection they need to play a more active role in politics than they have in the past. 

3.      Teachers need to get political! Since we have leaders who won’t do what most people want, namely, to give America some sensible gun laws. There is a simple and perhaps foolproof way they can do that. 

4.      My proposal is this: Every school administrator and every teacher in the USA should refuse to come back to their schools in the fall unless their states’ two senators have agreed on the framework for a strong national gun control bill, and better funding and oversight of mental health programs for their state. 

5.      Further, their senators need to promise a vote on these issues before Christmas 2022—or the schools get closed again! 

6.      Here is the nub of my proposal: No safety for our pupils and our teachers, no public schooling!

7.      The pandemic showed how important teachers are in the lives of the 50 million public school students they serve. 

8.      As important, valued, and among the best-educated members of our democracy, we educators need to express our values. We simply cannot nurture student academic and social growth in institutions where we and our students are attacked and killed because too many deranged people have access to guns. 

9.      We need immediate legislation to control who can get weapons, and we need funding to build better programs for mental health. We need, as well, buy-back programs offering considerably more than the retail price of any weapon that is turned into law officers. 

10.  And let’s not forget that our law officers also deserve a society where weapons are not so easily available. If good people do not join the professions of law enforcement and teaching because they are worried about being shot, the democracy we educators build, and law enforcement personnel have sworn to protect, will be in much greater danger than it is right now. 

11.  So, it’s simple. Educators in large numbers must agree: No one goes back to school in any state unless those states’ senators agree to make childhood and teaching safer. It’s time to actually Make America Great Again, which we can begin to do by protecting the lives of our children and ourselves.

David Berliner is Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Education at Arizona State University.  He has taught at the University of Arizona, University of Massachusetts, Teachers College, and Stanford University, as well as universities in Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland.

Dr. Berliner is a member of the National Academy of Education (NEA), the International Education Academy (IEA), a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and a past president of both the American Educational Research Association (AERA), The Horace Mann League (HML), and the Division of Educational Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA).  He is the recipient of awards for distinguished contributions from APA, AERA, HML, and the National Education Association (NEA).

850 Austin district teachers pledge not to return to school buildings on Monday

Not only should the will and preference of 850 AISD teachers matter for re-opening policy, but we need look no further than the catastrophe that is unfolding before our very eyes at the White House to give us all pause about any form of school re-opening plan. And it all took place in what should have been the safest place in America to be...

-Angela Valenzuela

850 Austin district teachers pledge not to return to school buildings on Monday

October 1, 2020

About 850 Austin district teachers have pledged not to return to their campuses Monday when school buildings reopen for learning.

Concerned about the threat of the coronavirus to both their students and themselves, the educators said they remain committed to teaching their students, but will do so only in a virtual setting.

Of the 925 teachers who requested medical waivers and accommodations to work remotely, 66% had been approved so far, one was denied and the rest are still pending or have been marked inactive, according to district information released Thursday.

In total, 44% of the 1,485 staff members have received accommodations, according to information provided earlier this week.

District leaders said they are approving accommodations for those who medically are at high risk from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and have submitted medical documentation. However, such accommodations have not been extended to educators who have high-risk family members, leaving some teachers to refuse to return in person and others to quit.

"I will not return on Monday nor do I plan to under any circumstances,” said Patrick Stinson, who teaches chemistry and integrated physics and chemistry at Northeast Early College High School. The district two weeks ago denied his request for accommodations, which he sought because his wife has a chronic heart condition. Stinson said he might lose his teaching position with his stance, but he said he is unwilling to expose his wife to risk by being in the classroom setting, where teachers already are exposed to a variety of germs, as school-age children often are carriers.

“Lots of us can’t afford to make this choice and have to do the wrong thing in order to eat,” he said.

Kiker Elementary librarian Sonya Butler notified campus families she’s leaving her position.

“I do not qualify for the accommodations or family leave and due to family situations and health, I am not returning to face to face learning,” she wrote in a letter to the school community. “I am truly heartbroken to leave a job I love so much and people I care about so deeply. However my family must come first and there, since I cannot work remotely, I must resign.”

Safe to return?

The Texas Education Agency requires districts to reopen campuses to students who wish to learn in person, or the schools risk losing state education funding. The agency has allowed districts to delay their start dates, as Austin did, and gradually add students back to campuses within eight weeks of launching. Most Central Texas school districts already have reopened schools. The Austin school district reopens Monday at 25% capacity to its first set of children, including those with special needs, prekindergarten, kindergarten, sixth and ninth grades and to children of staff. Plans call for more students to be added each week thereafter until all who wish to return may do so.

Dr. Mark Escott, interim health authority for Austin-Travis County, told Austin school board members Monday night that he believed it is safe to reopen campuses next week. He said he already has sent his own children back to in-person learning and his wife, who is an educator, also has returned to her campus.

Local and national health experts have cautioned not to reopen schools until the area’s positivity rate — the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 among those tested — is less than 5%. Travis County’s positivity rate for three weeks has been under that threshold, though some pockets of Austin, including where high numbers of low-income, Black or Latino families live, have had double or triple those rates.

Escott told board members he’s seen no evidence of coronavirus spread within the classroom setting. He reiterated that the local schools’ cases are almost exclusively attributable to sports and other extracurricular activities, students who have been in congregant settings.

While some classrooms or grade levels could exceed 50%, the majority of district families say they won’t return to the classrooms. Of the 54,300 families who responded to the survey, 57% said they are sticking to virtual learning for their elementary students, while 73% of middle schoolers and 76% of high schoolers plan to remain remote. Among low-income families, 53% of elementary students and 65% of middle school students said they will remain remote, while 68% of high schoolers are choosing virtual instruction.

Calls for change

Education Austin, the district’s largest union, remains in negotiations with district leaders on reopening plans, union President Ken Zarifis said. The pledge among the teachers who won’t return in person is not a strike, he said, because they will continue delivering instruction.

The group held a virtual news conference Thursday and reiterated educators’ concerns, calling again for changes to the reopening plan. The group cites a code of ethics that says educators will not knowingly or recklessly endanger the health of a student. Campus site-specific plans have been fluid, some changing weekly, which some educators say has contributed to the feeling that returning is unsafe.

A caravan of about 150 educators last weekend went to the district’s headquarters and taped to the building signs and messages: “COVID is airborne,” “Put our teachers and students first,” “How is face to face ‘best practices’ during a pandemic?”

District plans continue to call for all staff members without a medical waiver to return to school buildings Monday, but Zarifis said he’s hopeful the district will reexamine its stance and provide more staff members the opportunity to keep working remotely. He said newly hired Superintendent Stephanie S. Elizalde spoke with a few dozen teachers on Wednesday and with him on Thursday about the reopening plans.

“We are encouraged by the superintendent’s engagement around the issues we feel are important, and the safety and teachers of our students, and how we come back to school,” he said.

Elizalde has acknowledged the concerns among employees, but she has said, “Austin ISD starts with students in its decision-making process.”

Austin district administrators will be present at campuses Monday to help teachers and school staff, she said.

“We feel confident that teachers care about their students and will notify us before Monday if they don’t plan on returning. We have contingency plans in place to make adjustments as necessary,” Elizalde said. “This is why we are opening with a maximum of 25% of our students.”

Education Austin will be hosting a Know Your Rights Training for educators

Education Austin will be hosting a Know Your Rights Training for educators informing them about resources and organizations that can help students and families in case of immigration raids. An Immigration lawyer will be attending to answer questions.  Please ask them to register at bit.ly/2l9jIfU 

The training will take place Saturday, February 11 at

Becker ES. We will have two sessions (9:00 to 11:00 a.m. and 11:30 to 1:30 p.m.)

Thank you,

Montserrat Garibay, M.Ed. 

National Board Certified Teacher

Vice President for Certified Employees

Education Austin

(512)627-2313

https://www.facebook.com/EdAustinTX

Institutionalized Racism and Children's Textbooks by Angela Valenzuela

I am happy to share this website and these analyses (see tables below) conducted by the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.   These statistics are abysmal in terms of the number of children's books published annually that are either by or about people of color and Native American and Indigenous people relative to the general population (primarily Anglo).  

Even just a cursory review shows how institutionalized racism is profound from the very important and influential vantage point of our nation's children's text book industry.

I remember several years ago when I first became apprised of how serious this problem of insufficient numbers of culturally and linguistically relevant texts actually is.

In the 1990s and throughout the 2000s, as a mother of two small children at the time, I remember thinking and experiencing this problem with respect to a paucity of Latina/o children's books first hand.  My husband and I sought to foster our daughters' biliteracy with Spanish-English, bilingual texts that additionally developed in them an awareness and appreciation of their heritage.  It was an uphill climb to say the least. 

I've commented previously on my blog with respect to the racist text book battle currently under way with the Texas State Board of Education.  The kind of racism reflected there is no different from the racism of our nation's textbook industry both of which reflect a deeper bias and emotional commitment by those in power that frankly prefer to perpetuate a culture of racism that is so profound that it's the air that we breathe. 

Even for minorities themselves, including our civil rights and activist communities, one of the last things on their/our minds—which helps to explain why more hasn't been done in this regard—are culturally and linguistically relevant children's books. 
This is not at all the case for our bilingual/dual language and ESL teachers in our nation's schools who must struggle daily in their schools and with their districts for inclusion.  It's not easy to teach bilingual or dual language education in classrooms that lack books, or insufficient numbers, and curricula developed out of community-based knowledge and histories.

The CCBC began collecting these data on book published more than 30 years ago.  It documents an expansive time period during which precious little has changed.  In stark contrast to our nation's changing demographics, this is a massive problem that deserves focused attention, discussion, and resources in every school throughout the U.S.  As you will be able to see from this piece, this is what we are actually attending to in Austin, Texas (see additional resources below).

This is not simply a technical fix, but rather involves challenging institutionalized racism and other forms of oppression with respect to textbooks and curriculum for children of color.  What makes it "institutionalized" is its far-reaching and systemic nature such that in reflects deeper societal values that are themselves culturally chauvinist, on the one hand, and from an equity perspective, actually compensating for years and indeed, decades, of neglect vis-a-vis children of color in our schools.  However, if you need a definition of "institutionalized racism," here is one from the National Education Association.

 The norms, policies and practices that are structured into political, societal and economic institutions that have the net effect of imposing oppressive conditions and denying rights, opportunity, and equality to identifiable groups based upon race or ethnicity (National Education Association, 2015)

With respect to the above-mentioned, racist textbook battle here in Texas, Education Austin President Ken Zarifis offers a cogent response to why our practices and policies have not kept up with the needs of our growing student of color population in our nation's schools:

This issue goes beyond November and this textbook, says Ken Zarifis. “The salient question is how do you tell the history of all the people who make up this nation? Why are we scared to acknowledge the contributions others have made,” asks Zarifis. “When I taught 8th grade language arts, my kids were thirsty to hear their stories in the classroom. Why would we deny them that?” The only reason I can think of is we don’t want them to feel empowered by their heritage and the real story of those who came before them.”

Rather than being apologists for the current system, we need to stop oppressing our children by systematically denying them access to their stories, histories, and identities. We need to reverse the effects of this curriculum by not only waging and winning high-profile battles such as that against the SBOE, but also by disrupting institutionalized racism in everyday ways.  

More substantive yet is an alternative vision that is additive, asset-based and anchored figuratively and literally in our communities themselves as there is much work to be done in order to reverse mindsets that grow out of the received, subtractive, culturally eviscerating curriculum that is the air that we breathe.

Accordingly, we need to get close to the ground in our communities and organize in and with them so that we can get the teachers and children the resources that they need to teach the way that they know how to teach.  

After we heard from our Austin ISD bilingual/dual language teachers, here is what we did locally:

• KLRU/PBS Video (May 1, 2015), Academia Cuauhtli Works to Bridge History with Language

• Like us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/AcademiaCuauhtli/

• Here is a published piece on Academia Cuauhtli titled, Academia Cuauhtli and the Eagle: Danza Mexica and the Epistemology of the Circle by Angela Valenzuela, Emilio Zamora, and Brenda Rubio, here.

Briefly, our community-based organization, Nuestro Grupo, started a legal partnership with the Austin Independent School District (AISD) and the City of Austin and inaugurated a Saturday academy, a language and culture revitalization project named, "Academia Cuauhtli," that serves 4th and 5th grade children from Sanchez, Metz, Zavala, and Houston Elementary Title I AISD schools in Austin, Texas.  

I cannot even begin to tell you how awe-inspiring partnerships can be when we are all on the same noble and worthy path of addressing the issue of equity in our schools through our focus on curriculum development, teacher preparation, and children's books.  We can all only grow from this vast and sacred task of educating our children in ways that expand their, as well as our, sense of the possible not only for themselves, but for their families and communities, as well.  School district administrators and teachers also benefit by engaging authentic knowledge and pedagogy that reflect lived experience in ways that make schools and life, generally, meaningful and fulfilling.

I certainly hope that this is helpful.  Peace and blessings to all.

Angela Valenzuela
c/s 

#writinglatinokidsbooks

@diversebooks

#LibroTraficante

@texasbookfest 

#txbookfest 
@austinisd

 

Publishing Statistics on Children's Books about People of Color and First/Native Nations and by People of Color and First/Native Nations Authors and Illustrators

Documented by the Cooperative Children's Book Center
School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison

(Questions about this information? Contact CCBC Director Kathleen T. Horning) 

History
In 1985 the Cooperative Children's Book Center began to document the numbers of books we received each year that were written and/or illustrated by African Americans. Then-CCBC Director Ginny Moore Kruse was serving as a member of the Coretta Scott King Award Committee that year, and we were appalled to learn that, of the approximately 2,500 trade books that were published in 1985, only 18 were created by African Americans, and thus eligible for the Coretta Scott King Award.
As a statewide book examination center serving Wisconsin, the CCBC receives the majority of new U.S. trade books published for children and teens each year. In the early years of gathering these statistics, we used the CCBC's collections and worked in conjunction with the Coretta Scott King Award Task Force of the American Library Association, to document the number of books by and about African Americans published annually.

Starting in 1994 we began also keeping track of the numbers of books by Asian/Pacific and Asian/Pacific American, First/Native Nation and Latino book creators as well. We also began documenting not only the number of books created by people of color and First/Native Nations authors and illstrators, but the number of books about people of color and First/Native Nations, including the many titles that have been created by white authors and/or illustrators. 

What We Count

We examine everything that comes into the CCBC annually in order to determine what gets counted. This includes picture books, novels, and non-fiction. We receive hardcover and, these days, more and more original paperback trade books typically available for sale to public schools and public libraries, as well as some (but not all) series/formula non-fiction titles (e.g., a "Countries of the World" series including  titles such as Kenya and Venezuela). We do not include reprints of previously issued books in our count.

As noted above, the CCBC receives most of the trade books published annually in the United States. The titles the CCBC receives also include a limited number of series or formula non-fiction books, and books from several Canadian publishers that distribute in the United States, and these have also been included in our multicultural counts when applicable. More recently, we've begun receiving a small number of books distributed by a few U.S. trade publishers with a U.S. price label, but not in a U.S. edition.

Beginning in 2002 we began providing information on the number of books we receive each year, on which the statistics are based. Beginning in 2015, in addition to providing documentation based on the total number of books we received, we will document numbers coming just from U.S. publishers (in other words, eliminating the Canadian and other books that aren't U.S. editions.) 

How We Count
The four broad groupings we use do not represent cultural specificity; we track this in the annual records we keep listing the individual titles. Our Latino log, for example, is organized by specific region and then country or heritage group within it, so a book about a Cuban American child, or a book about or set in the Domincan Republic or Mexico, is recorded as such. A book about Aztec people living in Mexico would be recorded in both the American Indian and Latino logs.

We count a book as "about" if the main character/subject is a person of color, or if we are able to determine based on examining a book that a person of color features significantly in the narrative. So a novel in which the main character is white will be included if we are able to determine a secondary character of color is important in the story. We do not count a book if the principle character is white and there are a range of secondary characters, including characters of color, but none of the characters of color seem to play a significant role. This is, of course, somewhat subjective; we talk about the books that we can't easily discern. We do not want to misrepresent a book as having multicultural content; likewise, we make every effort not to miss those that do.

In recent years, we have seen more fiction with diverse casts of characters, or picture books with no specific cultural content but featuring a character of color, and this has impacted our numbers. Likewise, paperback series publishing has had an impact on the numbers, as had the fact that some publishers outside the realm of traditional trade books are now sending us their titles because they are aware that we are maintaining these statistics.

The multicultural content across the books about people of color and First/Native Nations represented by the numbers we document varies widely with regard to accuracy and authenticity.  Additionally, the number of books we document each year created by authors and illustrators of color does not represent the number of individual book creators of color—often a single individual has written or illustrated more than one book published in a given year. And not every book created by an author or illustrator of color, counted in the "by" cateogry, contains cultural content. If it doesn't, it is not included in the "about" number. Likewise, if a book about an African American family is illustrated by a Chinese American illustrator, it would be counted as "by" in the Asian Pacific category, and "about" in the African American category. If the author of the book is Black, then the book would also be counted in the "by" category for Africans and African Americans.

What Do the Numbers Mean?
Does that mean the remaining books are all about white people? No. Even though we don't document the number of books about white people, we know there are certainly picture books books published every year featuring animal characters or trucks or other high-interest topics; and nonfiction about aspects of the natural world, etc. But what we know from being immersed in children's and young adult literature each and every day is that white people are not notably, or even noticably, lacking in books for children and teens. However, CCBC Director Kathleen Horning did do a mid-year check in 2013. You can read what she found on the CCBC blog.

More important, what the low numbers for multicultural literature mean is that publishing for children and teens has a long way to go before reflecting the rich diversity of perspectives and experiences within and across race and culture.

The numbers are far from the only important thing to consider when it comes to multicultural publishing for children and teens, of course. The books themselves matter. And every year we see amazing books by and about people of color and First/Native Nations people published. There just aren't enough of them. The more books there are, especially books created by authors and Illustrators of color, the more opportunities librarians, teachers, and parents and other adults have of finding outstanding books for young readers and listeners that reflect dimensions of their lives, and give a broader understanding of who we are as a nation.


Making a Difference

Across the years, we've seen evidence of the importance of small, independently owned publishers as contributors to a significant body of authentic multicultural literature for children in the United States and Canada. The commitment of individual editors at both large and small publishing houses also has made an impact.
We have also noted the importance of children's book awards in calling attention to outstanding work created by and about people of color and First/Native Nations people. We enourage you to visit our multicultural literature page for links to mulitulcultural literarture awards and other resources.
And we know the difference we all can make in purchasing and sharing books by people of color and FIrst/Native Nations individuals in our professional and personal lives. Sales matter to publishing. The books themselves matter to children and teens, who deserve to see the rich diversity of their lives and the world in which they live reflected in the books around them each and every day.

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Note: in addition to compiling annual statistics, we also include an essay sharing our observations about the publishing year in the introduction to each edition of CCBC Choices, our annual best of the year list, and this always includes comments on multicultural publishing. (Recent essays.) The statistics below may not always correspond to those in the Choices commentary for that publishing year. Discrepancies occur when we receive books after the deadline for including the numbers in the print publication. The table below represents the most accurate accounting. We update these statistis as additional titles trickle in.

Children's Books By and About People of Color and First/Native Nations Received by the CCBC* 2002 - See next chart for count of books from U.S publishers only Last Updated: October 11, 2016

Year	Number of Books Received at CCBC	African / African Americans		American Indians / First Nations		Asian Pacifics/ Asian Pacific Americans		Latinos
		By	About	By	About	By	About	By	About
2015	3,400	107	270	19	42	176	113	59	83
2014	3,500	85	181	20	38	129	112	59	66
2013	3,200	68	93	18	34	90	69	48	57
2012	3,600	68	119	6	22	83	76	59	54
2011	3,400	79	123	12	28	76	91	52	58
2010	3,400	102	156	9	22	60	64	55	66
2009	3,000	83	157	12	33	67	80	60	61
2008	3,000	83	172	9	40	77	98	48	79
2007	3,000	77	150	6	44	56	68	42	59
2006	3,000	87	153	14	41	72	74	42	63
2005	2,800	75	149	4	34	60	64	50	76
2004	2,800	99	143	7	33	61	65	37	61
2003	3,200	79	171	11	95	43	78	41	63
2002	3,150	69	166	6	64	46	91	48	94

Children's Books By and About People of Color and First/Native Nations Received by the CCBC*--US Publishers Only 2015 - Last Updated: March 4, 2016

Year	Number of Books Received at CCBC from US Pubs (est)	African / African Americans		American Indians / First Nations		Asian Pacifics/ Asian Pacific Americans		Latinos
		By	About	By	About	By	About	By	About
2015	3,200	105	243	9	28	156	107	56	78

Children's Books By and About People of Color and First/Native Nations Received by the CCBC* 1994-2001

Year	Estimated Total Number of Books Published	African / African-Americans		Asian Pacific / Asian Pacific Americans	American Indian	Latinos
		By	About	By and About	By and About	By and About
2001	5,000-5,500	99	201	96	60	77
2000	5,000-5,500	96	147	57	40	54
1999	5,000	81	150	61	41	64
1998	5,000	96	188	52	55	73
1997	4,500-5000	88	216	66	64	88
1996	4,500	92	172	49	50	103
1995	4,500	100	167	91	83	70
1994	4,500	82	166	65	70	90

Children's Books By Black Authors and Illustrators Published in the United States 1985-1993

Year	Estimated Number of Books Published	Total Number of Books by Black Authors and Illustrator
1993	4,500	74
1992	4,500	94
1991	4,000	70
1990	5,000	51
1989	4,000	48
1988	3,000	39
1987	3,000	30
1986	3,000	18
1985	2,500	18

*As noted in the narrative above, we receive the majority of new books published annually by U.S. trade book publishers. Some of what we receive also comes from educational and small presses. We also receive some books from Canadian publishers distributing in the United States, or from or other countrries outside the U.S. that are distributed by U.S publishers (e.g., Penguin Australia). Beginning with 2015, we are providing a separate chart that looks at U.S.-only publishing (eliminating books from publishers in Canada or other countries. U.S. editions of books published in other countries are included in both counts.)