JPAC AND ITS STATE JEWISH COALITION WELCOME ETHNIC STUDIES CURRICULUM BILL IN STATE LEGISLATURE

February 24, 2025

SACRAMENTO, CA – Below please find a statement from David Bocarsly, Executive Director of JPAC, on the introduction of Assembly Bill 1468 (AB 1468), a new bill introduced today in the Assembly to standardize the teaching of ethnic studies in public high schools:

“If done right, ethnic studies is a good thing for all students. We lead a coalition of over 35 major Jewish organizations that believes that a more empathetic and understanding generation will lead to a safer society for everyone — including Jews. Unfortunately, in the absence of proper guidance, we have seen far too many instances of factually inaccurate and antisemitic content entering classrooms, sparking major concern and fear in Jewish communities across the state. We are grateful to Assemblymembers Zbur and Addis, Senator Becker, and the dozens of coauthors for recognizing the need to develop content standards and frameworks to ensure ethnic studies does not harm Jewish students and achieves our shared goals.”

Additional Context on AB 1468: 

JPAC leads a coalition of over 35 Jewish organizations that have lobbied tirelessly for standardization of the ethnic studies curriculum to ensure the safety of our communities. The coalition is the lead sponsor of the bill and has worked closely with the authors to ensure there is a comprehensive, lasting solution to the ongoing issue of antisemitism in California classrooms. The bill is authored by Assemblymembers Rick Chavez Zbur and Dawn Addis, and Senator Josh Becker. There are 31 co-authors of the bill, representing more than one-fourth of the legislature.

You can find the press release from the authors here.

Examples of Antisemitism and Harmful Rhetoric in Ethnic Studies Classrooms: 

• San Francisco Unified School District used a resource with an antisemitic trope about Jewish control in its 9th grade ethnic studies class. It also had a resource library that directly quotes Hamas – a terrorist organization – justifying the slaughter of Israelis on October 7.
• A Sequoia Union High School District teacher used an ethnic studies slide deck almost exclusively about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which included a puppeteer’s hand controlling strings. This is a common antisemitic trope of Jewish control.
• Santa Ana Unified School District just settled a lawsuit proving they approved curriculum in violation of the guardrails, without proper process and transparency. The SAUSD Ethnic Studies Steering Committee mused about using Jewish holidays to approve courses, discussed the “Jewish Questions”, and a committee member refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization. 
• Fort Bragg Unified School District’s 10th grade ethnic studies class included content that was removed from the first draft of the ethnic studies model curriculum. It also uses a map that draws false equivalencies between the colonization of Native American land in the United States with Palestinian “land loss” in the Middle East.
• Pittsburg Unified School District’s ethnic studies course includes material removed from the first draft of the ethnic studies model curriculum that was rejected by the state, including a biased definition of the boycott, divestment, sanction movement against Israel.

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About JPAC:

The Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California (JPAC) is the voice of California’s Jewish community to the State Capitol. Composed of California’s leading Jewish community organizations, JPAC advocates in Sacramento on behalf of the Jewish community’s concerns and broadly shared values. JPAC member organizations – including Jewish Federations, Jewish Community Relations Councils, Jewish Family Service agencies, and others – collectively serve hundreds of thousands of Californians of all backgrounds and represent the interests of California’s 1.2 million Jews, making it the largest single-state coalition of Jewish organizations in the nation.

Since 2019, JPAC has successfully advocated for over $465 million dollars from the state budget for a wide range of community projects, including enhancing community security initiatives for institutions at-risk of being hate-crime targets, and expanding Holocaust education institutions.

For more information, visit us at http://jpac-cal.org.

Contact: David Bocarsly, JPAC Executive Director, david@jpac-cal.org