California Gov

California Governor gavin newsom Signed a law on Tuesday aimed at combating antisemitism in schools.

California legislative Jewish The caucus said the legislation would help stem the threat of persecution against Jewish students. But critics, including teachers and Palestinian advocates, said it could inadvertently hinder 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 on the rise nationwide and globally, these laws make clear: Our schools should be places of learning, not places of hate,” Newsom said in a statement.

The legislation creates an Office of Civil Rights with a governor-appointed coordinator who will oversee and provide training to school staff to help identify and prevent abuse. The coordinator is required to consult with the State Board of Education to make recommendations to the legislature on policies to address anti-Semitic discrimination in schools.

The new Civil Rights Office could cost the state as much as $4 million annually, including money for six staffers to oversee 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 gone further by introducing legislation specifically aimed at combating antisemitism in K-12 schools. The efforts come amid political tensions in the US 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. He said the bill was about attacking teachers, not combating antisemitism.

chairman Donald TrumpThe administration has halted or frozen federal funding to 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 that the cuts, which are being litigated, would not address anti-Semitic acts and that they ignored the university system’s efforts to address antisemitism.

anti-disintegration leaguewhich supports the new law, tracked 860 antisemitic acts reported to the group in non-Jewish K-12 schools nationwide last year. Reports include harassment, vandalism and assault. This is a 26% decrease from last 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.

He said another student used school materials to make a Nazi flag and pinned it to Ruderman’s back. He said Ruderman walked past several students on campus before being asked about a teacher.

“I felt sad, confused and overwhelmed,” Ruderman said.

The Office for Civil Rights does not require legislative approval for educational materials for teachers. But some teachers have criticized a part of the law that requires all teacher instructions be “factually accurate” because they say it could unintentionally stifle learning.

Seth Bramble, a manager at the California Teachers Association, said many controversial topics have conflicting facts. Not being allowed to teach those facts reinforces rote learning over critical thinking and gives advocates “a new legal tool to disrupt instruction and threaten teachers,” he said.

A previous version of the bill set out specific requirements for “instructional materials about Jews, Israel, or the Israel–Palestine conflict”, including that they be balanced, accurate, do not promote antisemitism and do not 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 of controversial issues in the classroom.

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

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

“When swastikas are painted on elementary school playgrounds, when a Jewish student has a Nazi flag taped to their back, or they are chased and yelled at, we will turn a blind eye,” he said in a statement. “This bill is about affirming a safe and supportive learning environment consistent with our state’s values.”