AJC Hails Milestone in Fight Against Antisemitism in Public Schools

In a watershed moment for Jewish communities across California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 715 into law-paving the way for meaningful and immediate action to confront antisemitism in California's K-12 public schools.

The legislation, passed without opposition on the final day of the 2025 legislative session, represents a powerful step forward in targeting antisemitism in the state's educational system.

"AB 715 is a transformative law that will protect Jewish students while providing vitally important frameworks to prevent antisemitic bias," said American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch. "AJC has long fought for enforceable policies to confront antisemitism in our schools."

AJC played a significant role toward moving the bill to passage, providing legislators and stakeholders with research and expert guidance on addressing antisemitism and supporting the constitutional rights of students and educators.

The law provides much-needed tools to combat antisemitism and ensure the accuracy of instruction and teaching materials, and creates a statewide Office of Civil Rights with an antisemitism prevention coordinator to track incidents and educate teachers and administrators.

The passage follows months of negotiations and advocacy efforts with the governor's office, assemblymembers and senators, garnering support of all the diversity caucuses and the Jewish Legislative Caucus.

AJC is deeply grateful to the bill's co-authors, Assemblymembers Rick Zbur and Dawn Addis, for spearheading the groundbreaking law and for working closely with AJC.

AJC offers numerous resources to help families, students and school administrators create education spaces that foster inclusion and are resilient against antisemitism. They include:

"Today, we celebrate a major achievement," said AJC Northern California Director Seth Brysk. "Tomorrow, we begin the work of turning legislation into lasting change in schools to benefit all Californians."