Assembly education committee advances bill to address antisemitism in K–12 schools amid debate over academic freedom

Assemblymember Zibur and Assemblymember Don Addis introduced AB 715 to the California State Assembly Education Committee and the panel voted to pass the bill to the Appropriations Committee by a 9-0 roll call. Proponents said the bill would strengthen protections and accountability for Jewish students facing harassment in K–12 schools; opponents said the bill’s language is vague and could be used to censor classroom instruction and to expand the Uniform Complaint Procedure (UCP) in unintended ways.

The authors framed AB 715 as a civil-rights response to a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents. "This new bill is the product of deep discussions and partnership among the Jewish, AAPI, Black, and Latino legislative caucuses and represents a new approach to addressing growing and unacceptable antisemitism in K through 12 schools," said Assemblymember Zibur. Assemblymember Addis said the measure aims to prevent and respond to antisemitism by clarifying protections for religion and nationality, tightening district accountability for complaints and by establishing a state-level coordinator to address antisemitism.

Supporters gave specific examples of harms they said the bill would address. Ella, a middle-school student from San Jose who testified, said she was harassed and ostracized by peers after October 7 and that a UCP her family filed took four months to get a response.…