Latest news with #AB1468
Epoch Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
California Bill Would Broaden Discrimination Protections in Schools
A committee in the California Legislature will consider a bill on May 21 that seeks to strengthen and broaden existing discrimination protections in K–12 schools to target anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Under The bill, introduced by Democratic Assembly members Rick Chavez Zbur of Los Angeles and Dawn Addis of San Luis Obispo, would also establish a state anti-Semitism coordinator who would ensure schools and staff, including contractors, are in compliance with existing anti-discrimination laws. To address specific forms of discrimination, the bill expands the definition of 'nationality' to include a person's actual or perceived shared ancestry, ethnic characteristics, or residency in a country with a dominant religion or distinct religious identity. It also explicitly defines religious discrimination to include anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, aiming to provide clearer protections against these forms of bias. It also prohibits schools from adopting, approving, or allowing any content in their teaching materials if its use would subject a student to unlawful discrimination. The bill unanimously passed the Assembly Education Committee on May 14 and will next be heard by the Appropriations Committee. Related Stories 5/19/2025 5/17/2025 Zbur, a member of the California Jewish Legislative Caucus, says the bill lays the framework to address a rise in anti-Semitism in schools. 'Jewish and all students deserve to be safe, affirmed and respected in our schools and communities,' Zbur said in a AB 715 is co-authored by the chairs of the other Ethnic caucuses, including the Black, Latino, Asian, and Pacific Islander caucuses. Zbur and Addis withdrew a similar piece of legislation last week that failed to gain ground in the Legislature. Assembly Bill 1468 had called for creating academic standards that would have laid out what could and couldn't be taught in mandatory ethnic studies courses. Opponents of AB 1468 and AB 715, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said the bill amounted to censorship and threatened academic freedom. 'AB 1468 was a blatant attempt to undermine Ethnic Studies and silence Palestinian narratives,' the CEO of CAIR's California Chapter, Hussam Ayloush, said in a The decision to replace AB 1468 was the result of collaboration with the other ethnic caucuses and aims to take a broader focus on discrimination that would apply to all schoolwork, not just ethnic studies, said lawmakers. In Since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Hamas terrorist group launched a land, sea, and air attack on Israel, tensions have increased among the Israelis and Palestinians amid the subsequent war in Gaza, especially on U.S. The U.S. Department of Education has in recent months On March 7, the department, along with the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, and the General Services Administration,
Politico
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Exclusive: Bill would restrict Gaza lessons
Presented by THE BUZZ: CURRICULUM CLASH — Members of the Legislature's Jewish Caucus will unveil a bill today that would prohibit ethnic studies teachers from focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or other international conflicts. The move is likely to bring bitter clashes that have divided school boards across California in recent weeks to Sacramento. Assemblymembers Rick Chavez Zbur, Dawn Addis and state Sen. Josh Becker are carrying the measure, AB 1468, which they say is intended to combat rising antisemitism in K-12 schools, citing incidents of Jewish students being targeted over the war in Gaza. The bill has 31 total co-authors, a sizable show of initial support. Zbur said a lack of clear curriculum standards for ethnic studies has 'allowed groups with biased ideological agendas to peddle factually-inaccurate and blatantly antisemitic curriculum to school districts, posing a threat to Jewish children's safety.' The bill would also require the state Board of Education to create uniform content rules and for state educational officials to monitor curriculum for all ethnic studies courses taught in public schools, including lesson plans, to ensure the courses don't divide students. Instead, it says, teachers should focus on the 'domestic experience and stories of historically marginalized peoples in American society.' Last year, Zbur held a related bill that was backed by state Superintendent Tony Thurmond, saying he needed time to work out disagreements with teachers and other opponents, who felt it censored classroom speech. That bill would have required school districts to allow parents to review ethnic studies course materials. Zbur's latest measure is expected to spark a fierce debate within the Legislature — and is likely to draw opposition from teachers, labor unions and progressive groups that have previously criticized lawmakers' efforts to control whether the Israel conflict is included in lesson plans. The dispute comes as school districts across the Golden State have crafted ethnic studies courses to comply with an existing mandate from Sacramento. California is slated to require all school districts to offer an ethnic studies course by this fall, under a bill Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in 2021. The course was intended to teach high school students about the history and oppression of racial and ethnic groups in America. But that deadline could be pushed back if there is no funding for the courses in the budget — an option the governor is keeping wide open. Erika Li, a top official with Newsom's Department of Finance, told lawmakers at a hearing earlier this month that his January budget did not include money for ethnic studies 'given the state of the budget this year' but the administration was open to discussing funding in the coming months. The state has a tight budget this year, with a tiny surplus that could quickly turn into a deficit. The 2021 law would also make ethnic studies a high-school graduation requirement for all California students by 2030, a move that sparked fierce debate in the Legislature four years ago due to concerns that earlier versions of a curriculum developed by a state task force evoked antisemitic stereotypes or fixated on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Already, several districts have faced heated pushback from educators, students and parents in recent weeks over ethnic studies courses. In Palo Alto, the school district narrowly approved adding the course. The superintendent had previously said they wouldn't move forward, citing an unfunded state mandate and 'local divisiveness across California' during prior debates over a statewide ethnic studies curriculum. One board member, Rowena Chiu, has been at the center of the firestorm in Palo Alto. She voted against the curriculum and came under fire after sharing a controversial X post from a group called 'Asians Against Wokeness,' which criticized a district employee. The Santa Ana school district last week dropped three ethnic studies classes after Jewish groups sued, alleging the proposed curriculum contained false narratives about Jews. The curriculum was grounded in Liberated Ethnic Studies, a progressive-led approach to ethnic studies that emphasizes concepts like systemic oppression and colonialism. And in Fresno, some teachers are worried the district is slow-walking the rollout of an ethnic studies curriculum, EdSource reported. Teachers say development of the program has stalled, likely due to controversy in other districts. Zbur's bill is expected to face a hearing in the Assembly Education Committee, which could draw protests and force Newsom and legislative leaders to take up a polarizing issue. GOOD MORNING. Happy Monday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook. You can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as 'CA Playbook' in your contacts. Or drop us a line at dgardiner@ and bjones@ or on X — @dustingardiner and @jonesblakej. WHERE'S GAVIN? Newsom will hold a 1 p.m. news conference to announce a new homeless funding accountability tool. The event will be live streamed on the governor's YouTube page. STATE CAPITOL FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: DO NOT PASS GO — Attorney General Rob Bonta and state Sen. Melissa Hurtado unveiled legislation that would increase penalties for corporations that engage in monopolistic or anticompetitive practices. Bonta said the measure is designed to make fines for such behavior — such as price fixing or restraining trade — so aggressive that companies can't pay fines. 'Too many wealthy corporations see penalties for breaking the law as simply the cost of doing business,' he said. The measure, SB 763, would increase criminal fines under the Cartwright Act, California's century-old antitrust law, from $1 million to $100 million per corporate violation and from $250,000 to $1 million for individual violators. It would also increase prison sentences for severe violations. SAN FRANCISCO FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: COMEBACK CITY — A new poll from Grow SF, a centrist advocacy group, suggests that San Francisco voters are feeling much better about the city's trajectory. The poll found that 36 percent of voters say SF is moving in the right direction while 34 percent say it's not (and 30 percent don't know how they feel). It's a dramatic reversal from last October, when Grow SF's poll found 62 percent of voters thought the city was moving in the wrong direction. The latest survey is also the first time since March 2020 that the group's poll has found that more voters say the city is on the upswing than not. The poll comes as crime rates in San Francisco have been falling for more than a year. Fatal drug overdoses and the number of street encampments have also dropped. Voters' improving mood comes after the November election of Mayor Daniel Lurie, a moderate Democrat and former political outsider, and a centrist majority on the Board of Supervisors. The poll found that Lurie has strong approval ratings, with 55 percent of voters viewing him favorably. (More on Lurie below) ON THE AGENDA FLOOR SESH — The state Assembly and Senate will hold floor sessions at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively. CLIMATE AND ENERGY KILEY'S REVENGE — Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley is eagerly picking up President Donald Trump's line of attack against California's unique ability under the Clean Air Act to set its own vehicle emissions standards. Kiley spoke with POLITICO's California Climate newsletter about his ambitions to undo California's rules. TOP TALKERS SELLING SAN FRANCISCO — POLITICO's Jonathan Martin writes that San Francisco's Lurie is a 'Michael Bloomberg-style technocrat' who's focused on selling the city's post-pandemic comeback. The heir to the Levi Strauss fortune wants to create a cleaner and safer environment for his tourism-dependent city. 'We have our problems, they're concentrated in a few areas, which is where our tourists come,' Lurie told Jonathan. 'We have to clean that up.' ROAD TO 2026 — Former Rep. Katie Porter is still mulling a bid for California governor. If she chooses to run, she will be one of several House Democrats from the class of 2018 seeking a gubernatorial role, as our D.C. colleagues write. These lawmakers who came to Washington during an anti-Trump wave are making the case that they are the best candidates to push back against the president who they say is hurting Americans. 'The reality is that state government is going to be really the tip of the spear in trying to protect people; to have some continuity on health care and consumer protection in a world where Trump is dismantling them,' Porter said. AD WARS INCOMING — House Republican leaders have proposed to use Medicaid cuts to pay for tax cuts, border security and energy production. That could create a headache for two California battleground Reps. David Valadao and Ken Calvert. As POLITICO's Kelly Hooper writes, both Valadao and Calvert represent districts with larger-than-average Medicaid populations. The Democratically aligned group Protect Our Care is targeting both with ads urging them to stop the cuts. AROUND THE STATE — Yosemite National Park staffers are protesting workforce cuts by hanging an upside-down American flag off the side of El Capitan. (San Francisco Chronicle) — A San Diego County tribal reservation partnered with Cal Fire to conduct a planned burn that cleared 160 acres. (The San Diego Union-Tribune) — A city auditor found that Oakland has paid more than it needs to for overtime to some of its employees for at least six years. (The Oaklandside) — compiled by Nicole Norman PLAYBOOKERS FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: NEW SF FIRM — Two veteran San Francisco political advisers will today launch West Advisors, a strategic consulting and public-affairs firm. Its founders are Andres Power and Jeff Cretan, both former senior City Hall staffers and alums of former Mayor London Breed's administration and state Sen. Scott Wiener's operation. Power was Breed's policy director and led the city's effort to win a state pro-housing designation; Cretan was Breed's comms director and led the city's PR efforts during the Covid pandemic and other crises. PEOPLE MOVES — Philip Cook has joined JAMS in Los Angeles as an arbitrator, mediator, neutral evaluator and judge pro tem. — Maddie Ribble has joined the California Community Land Trust Network as co-director for policy. He was previously interim vice president for policy at The Children's Partnership. — Logan Hess starts today as principal consultant for the Assembly Health Committee, and Grant Silva is now lead consultant for the panel. Hess was previously in the Senate Office of Research, and Silva was with the Assembly Judiciary Committee. — KaBria Payden, previously of Chris Holden's office, is now legislative director for Assemblymember Mia Bonta. Haley Hester joined Bonta's office as district director from former Oakland City Councilmember Treva Reid's team. And Sacramento State student Katie Chavez is interning for Bonta this semester. BIRTHDAYS — former Yahoo CEO Terry Semel … WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum … Kevin Lewis … Bruce Andrews … film critic Owen Gleiberman … Zahra Hajee in the office of LA Supervisor Lindsey Horvath … Amazon's Lindsay Hamilton … BELATED B-DAY WISHES — (was Sunday): POLITICO's Katy Murphy … Marissa Mitrovich at the Fiber Broadband Association … pollster Frank Luntz … film producer Michael Benaroya … (was Saturday): former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh … Hugh Hewitt … Rachel Dratch ... Iliza Shlesinger ... Paul Lieberstein … WANT A SHOUT-OUT FEATURED? — Send us a birthday, career move or another special occasion to include in POLITICO's California Playbook. You can now submit a shout-out using this Google form.
