California Bill Would Broaden Discrimination Protections in Schools

AB 715 would amend language in existing discrimination protections in K–12 schools to specifically target anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

A school within the Los Angeles Unified School District in Los Angeles on Jan. 8, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A committee in the California Legislature will consider a bill on May 21 that seeks to strengthen and broaden existing discrimination protections in K–12 schools to target anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

Under Assembly Bill 715, sections of the Education Code would be amended to include nationality and religion under existing discrimination protections on race and ethnicity.

The bill, introduced by Democratic Assembly members Rick Chavez Zbur of Los Angeles and Dawn Addis of San Luis Obispo, would also establish a state anti-Semitism coordinator who would ensure schools and staff, including contractors, are in compliance with existing anti-discrimination laws.

To address specific forms of discrimination, the bill expands the definition of “nationality” to include a person’s actual or perceived shared ancestry, ethnic characteristics, or residency in a country with a dominant religion or distinct religious identity. It also explicitly defines religious discrimination to include anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, aiming to provide clearer protections against these forms of bias.

It also prohibits schools from adopting, approving, or allowing any content in their teaching materials if its use would subject a student to unlawful discrimination.

The bill unanimously passed the Assembly Education Committee on May 14 and will next be heard by the Appropriations Committee.

Zbur, a member of the California Jewish Legislative Caucus, says the bill lays the framework to address a rise in anti-Semitism in schools.

“Jewish and all students deserve to be safe, affirmed and respected in our schools and communities,” Zbur said in a statement.

AB 715 is co-authored by the chairs of the other Ethnic caucuses, including the Black, Latino, Asian, and Pacific Islander caucuses.

Zbur and Addis withdrew a similar piece of legislation last week that failed to gain ground in the Legislature. Assembly Bill 1468 had called for creating academic standards that would have laid out what could and couldn’t be taught in mandatory ethnic studies courses.

Opponents of AB 1468 and AB 715, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said the bill amounted to censorship and threatened academic freedom.

“AB 1468 was a blatant attempt to undermine Ethnic Studies and silence Palestinian narratives,” the CEO of CAIR’s California Chapter, Hussam Ayloush, said in a statement. “Repackaging censorship under the guise of combating antisemitism does a disservice to the very real fight against hate.”

The decision to replace AB 1468 was the result of collaboration with the other ethnic caucuses and aims to take a broader focus on discrimination that would apply to all schoolwork, not just ethnic studies, said lawmakers.

In California, incidents of anti-Semitism, including harassment, assault, and vandalism, rose to 1,344 in 2024, from 1,266 in 2023 and 518 in 2022, according to an Anti-Defamation League anti-Semitism audit.

Since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Hamas terrorist group launched a land, sea, and air attack on Israel, tensions have increased among the Israelis and Palestinians amid the subsequent war in Gaza, especially on U.S. college campuses, with sometimes violent protests taking place.

The U.S. Department of Education has in recent months taken action against colleges and universities it alleges failed to act in the face of anti-Semitism on their campuses.

On March 7, the department, along with the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, and the General Services Administration, canceled approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University, citing the school’s inaction amid harassment of Jewish students there.