SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California's State Board of Education has approved the nation’s first statewide model ethnic studies curriculum for high school students.

The board voted unanimously Thursday to approve the curriculum, which took years to draft.

It comes as the country is reeling from the latest spate of deadly hate crimes and racism. Educators and officials who spoke mourned this week’s killing of eight people, most of them Asian women, in Georgia, saying it showed the urgency of educating children about discrimination and oppression that textbooks often overlook.