California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs law aimed at fighting antisemitism in schools

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Tuesday aimed at combating antisemitism in schools.

The California Legislative Jewish Caucus said the law will help respond to alarming harassment against Jewish students. But critics, including educators and pro-Palestinian advocates, said it could inadvertently obstruct instruction on complex issues in the classroom.

“California is taking action to confront hate in all its forms. At a time when antisemitism and bigotry are rising nationwide and globally, these laws make clear: our schools must be places of learning, not hate,” Newsom said in a statement.

The law creates an Office of Civil Rights with a governor-appointed coordinator who will develop and provide training to help school employees identify and prevent antisemitism. The coordinator has to consult with the State Board of Education to make recommendations to the Legislature on policies to address anti-Jewish discrimination in schools.

The new civil rights office could cost the state about $4 million annually, including money for six staffers, according to the Government Operations Agency, which oversees departments in the Newsom administration.

Students in public schools nationwide are generally protected against discrimination through state, federal and district policies. But lawmakers in states including Missouri, Vermont and Tennessee have pushed further by introducing legislation aimed specifically at combating antisemitism at K-12 schools. The efforts come amid political tensions in the U.S. over Israel’s war in Gaza.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill earlier this year that would have banned teachers from promoting antisemitism in schools. She said the bill was about attacking teachers, not about combating antisemitism.

President Donald Trump’s administration has paused or frozen federal funding at colleges, including the University of California, Los Angeles, over allegations that they failed to adequately respond to antisemitism. UC President James B. Milliken has said the cuts, which are being litigated, won’t address anti-Jewish acts and that the university system’s efforts to address antisemitism went ignored.

The Anti-Defamation League, which supports the new law, tracked 860 antisemitic acts reported to the group last year at non-Jewish K-12 schools nationwide. Reports include harassment, vandalism and assault. That’s a 26% decrease from the previous year but much higher than the 494 reported in 2022.

Lev Miller Ruderman, a Jewish student at San Lorenzo Valley High School near the coastal city of Santa Cruz, said at a legislative hearing that school officials did not take an antisemitic act on campus seriously during his freshman year.

Another student used school materials to make a Nazi flag and pinned it to Ruderman’s back, he said. Ruderman walked past numerous students across campus before a teacher asked him about it, he said.

“I felt sad, confused and overwhelmed,” said Ruderman, who spent the rest of the school year at home.

The civil rights office does not need legislative approval for educational materials for teachers. But some educators have criticized a part of the law requiring that all teacher instruction “be factually accurate” because they say it could unintentionally stifle learning.

Many controversial subjects have conflicting facts depending on perspective, said Seth Bramble, a California Teachers Association manager. Not being allowed to teach those facts reinforces rote learning over critical thinking and gives advocates “a new legal tool to disrupt instruction and to threaten educators,” she said.

A previous version of the bill set specific requirements for “instructional materials regarding Jews, Israel, or the Israel-Palestine conflict,” including that they be balanced, accurate, don’t promote antisemitism and don’t label Israel as a settler colonial state.

The law no longer references Israel’s war in Gaza, but critics have said it could still have a chilling effect and prevent open discussion on contentious issues in the classroom.

“Teacher discourse on Palestine or the genocide in Gaza will be policed, misrepresented, and reported to the antisemitism coordinator,” Theresa Montaño with the California Faculty Association said in a statement.

Democratic state Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, who co-authored the bill, said in September that lawmakers had to push back against harassment, bullying and intimidation that Jewish students face.

“When swastikas are painted on elementary school playgrounds, when a Jewish student has a Nazi flag taped to their back, or is chased and yelled at, we will not turn a blind eye,” he said in a statement. “This bill is about affirming safe and supportive learning environments consistent with our state’s values.”