Antisemitic incidents in California schools have risen more than 430% over the past five years, according to the ADL.
And according to the FBI, in 2024, 70% of all faith-based hate crimes were committed against the Jewish community.
As a father with children in public schools, I see firsthand how this hate is seeping into the classroom. Jewish students and educators, in particular, are facing rising levels of ostracization, bullying, threats and even acts of violence. Although state and federal anti-discrimination and anti-racism laws exist, they have proven ineffective when it comes to addressing antisemitic racism and Jew hatred experienced by our children, families and educators in California’s K-12 education system.
Related Articles
Walters: New California law to make housing projects easier can also make them cost more
Letters: ICE focuses on honor students instead of criminals
California’s addiction rehab reformers face headwinds as they await action on bills
Walters: Courts keep striking down California laws infringing on free speech, gun rights
Newsom holding up a $750 million lifeline to Bay Area transit agencies, advocates say
That is why a new piece of legislation — Assembly Bill 715 — was introduced by a coalition of over 60 Jewish organizations representing the overwhelming majority of California’s Jewish community.
Accountability needed
AB 715 is also the priority bill of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus. The bill strengthens protections against antisemitism and all forms of discrimination in K-12 schools by setting clear classroom standards, increasing accountability for local school agencies and establishing teacher and administrator training.
As a community leader who has been involved in shaping the language for this bill, this legislation is straightforward and common-sense. It is designed to get Jew-hatred and racist ideology out of our schools, to protect all children and to ensure that Jewish children and educators — like everyone else — can learn and work in an environment free from harassment, intimidation or violence. Normally, this is the type of bill that would move through the approval process fairly quickly.
Unfortunately, these are not normal times. The California Teachers Association (CTA) has taken the unusual and troubling step of opposing AB 715.
They have poured significant time, financial resources and lobbying pressure into an effort to weaken or kill the bill. As a result, some elected officials — including two Bay Area senators who serve on the education committee — are wavering under the CTA’s influence and are even considering voting “no.”
This raises questions:
Why would a teachers’ union oppose a bill aimed squarely at getting hate out of schools? Why would they resist legislation that makes classrooms safer for both students and teachers?
Their position is puzzling, inconsistent with their stated values and strikingly out of step with decades of precedent.
Looking back 75 years, the Jewish community, teachers’ unions (including the National Education Association), and people of conscience stood together to fight for equal rights — especially for African American students.
In those days, the opposition to civil rights relied on familiar tactics: pressuring officials to allow hate under the guise of “free speech,” intimidating those who resisted, blocking certain students from entering schools, disrupting classrooms and embedding racist ideology into curricula.
The response from that coalition against hate was clear and firm. They pushed for the enforcement of existing federal and state laws. They demanded stronger protections against harassment and intimidation, insisting on meaningful consequences for violations. And they fought for safe learning environments where teachers could use non-racist curricula without fear.
That framework worked.
For more than 70 years, those legal and structural safeguards have been upheld under the Constitution and applied whenever racism reemerged in education.
Until now.
When you compare what was being demanded in the 1950s and 60s with what supporters of AB 715 are asking for today, the goals are nearly identical: safer classrooms, protections for students and teachers, and the removal of hate-driven ideology from education.
Legacy at risk
Today, the CTA’s legacy is at risk. Their opposition to AB 715 echoes the very strategies once used to block progress in our schools.
Not only is the CTA going against 75 years of precedent in fighting hate in education, but just as importantly, they are diverting union resources away from lobbying for critical issues — addressing child food insecurity, fixing outdated classrooms and developing modern teaching materials — to deploying all of that time and money to fight a bill designed to safeguard children and educators from discrimination instead.
Maybe the CTA simply does not understand what AB 715 is trying to accomplish.
The Jewish community is not seeking special treatment, just equal treatment, under the law.
The good news is that the Senate has not yet voted. The bad news is that time is of the essence.
We only have a few days left to call and email our state legislators and get them to listen to the voices of Jewish students, parents, teachers and the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community and our allies who are asking for their support — all in service of a singular objective: get hate out of California’s K-12 education system.
Daniel Klein is CEO of Jewish Silicon Valley and a board member of the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California.