The 2025–26 California state budget presented by Governor Gavin Newsom last month notably fails to allocate funding for Assembly Bill 101 (AB101) - yet another glaring reminder of the rushed and ill-conceived nature of the requirement for districts to offer Ethnic Studies courses. As spelled out in the bill – without funding, it is not mandated – which means districts do not need to implement it.
Ethnic Studies, as it stands, is an attempt to implement a divisive, politically charged curriculum under the guise of promoting diversity. The absence of funding in this year’s budget is just one of many problems with the state’s approach to Ethnic Studies. Instead of forcing schools to implement this controversial program, we should pause the push for Ethnic Studies as a graduation requirement.
Newly proposed legislation AB1468 includes the addition of standards, but the lack of oversight as to who will set those standards and who will impose those standards means the same bad actors can and likely will take over. The last time we trusted the state to create a committee of “experts,” the Governor ended up vetoing the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum three times.
Ethnic Studies Includes Anti-Israel Indoctrination
The rushed rollout of the statewide Ethnic Studies model curriculum in 2019 led to a document that faced significant criticism, particularly from the Jewish community, for containing elements of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment. For example, “Zionism” was used in a negative context as it was associated with oppression, colonialism, and apartheid.
Palestinian struggles were framed through the lens of “liberation,” which positioned Israel as an oppressive force. Further, it was an unbalanced narrative as the unique Jewish historical experiences of the Holocaust, the Jewish diaspora, and the importance of Israel to the Jewish people were excluded.
Far from being a tool for unity, Ethnic Studies is a vehicle for activism, often pushing ideologies that have no place in our schools. The so-called Liberated Ethnic Studies curriculum has come under fire for promoting rhetoric that encourages students to view each other through the lens of identity politics, pitting one group against another. This type of curriculum fosters resentment and division, rather than the mutual respect that should be the foundation of any educational experience. This is not education; it’s indoctrination.
And the worst part? Parents are being kept in the dark about what is being taught in these courses. In many districts, repeated requests for transparency about the content of Ethnic Studies lessons are ignored, and what we have found is deeply troubling: a curriculum full of inaccuracies, bias, and discriminatory content. This practice is a violation of AB101 (if it were funded) as well as the existing CA Education Code regarding new materials.
As parents, we expect our children’s education to promote truth, critical thinking, and understanding—not to serve as a breeding ground for political activism. Yet, that’s exactly what Ethnic Studies has become. It is not teaching our children to think critically about history, culture, and society; it is teaching them to see the world through a divisive and narrow ideological lens.
California’s Education Quality – 41st Out of 50 States
Meanwhile, California’s public education system is already struggling. Though one of the largest in the United States, its enrollment has declined by 14% in the past decade, currently serving 5.5 million students across 9,000 schools. According to 2024 data from the US Department of Education, though California has the 5th largest economy in the world, it ranks 19th in the nation for per-pupil spending. It is ranked 41st in the country for overall educational quality, with students performing below the national average in key subjects like math and reading. As the recently released 2024 National Education Report Card showed, a full 72% of California’s 4th and 8th graders cannot read at grade level. Furthermore, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, the University of California and California State University both report that incoming students are not adequately prepared in key subjects.
Rather than add yet another unfunded mandate to our struggling school system, we should focus on fostering critical thinking, mutual respect, and an understanding of our shared history within our current approved course catalog—without the political baggage that Ethnic Studies bring to the table.
Tamar Caspi is a mother, a charter school founder, and a former school board member. She is a co-founder of PeerK12, a grassroots organization combating institutionalized Jew-hatred in K-12 education.
This op-ed is published in partnership with a coalition of organizations that fight antisemitism across the world. Read the previous article by Jamie O Mahony.