Students in a classroom at a high school in California on March 1, 2022.
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Salgu Wissmath
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CalMatters
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Topline:
Emotional fights erupted over a controversial attempt this year to counter antisemitism in schools by restricting what teachers teach in classrooms, exposing a political quagmire for California Democrats who needed to balance the needs of Jewish communities against the fury of a growing pro-Palestinian base.
Why now: Stories like Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, as well as Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, prompted California’s Jewish lawmakers to make countering antisemitism in schools their top priority this year. They sought to create a list of words and ideas that could not be mentioned in classrooms, including heavily disputed claims about Israel. The effort sparked the biggest, most emotional legislative fight of the year: Should the government regulate what can be taught in schools? If so, how far should it go?
The backstory: At issue was Assembly Bill 715, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law this month after it went through multiple major, sometimes last-minute rewrites during months of political tussling. Champions have argued the law will protect Jewish students from rising bullying and discrimination, sometimes from teachers. While the state does not collect data on antisemitism in schools, reports of anti-Jewish bias statewide have doubled between 2021 and 2024, according to the California Department of Justice. Last year, more than 15% of all hate crime events in California were anti-Jewish, even though Jewish people make up about 3% of the state population.
Tears welling in her eyes, Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan paused mid-sentence to calm herself on the Assembly floor.
Almost a century ago, the Nazis forced her grandmother to flee Austria, leaving behind her great-great-grandmother who died in the Holocaust, the Jewish Democrat from San Ramon told her fellow lawmakers. Last year, she said, her daughter told her that the bathrooms at her school had been vandalized with swastikas.
“My children deserve to show up at school and not have to face hate crimes in their building, to face the symbols that represented the end of their relatives,” she said.
Stories like hers, as well as Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, prompted California’s Jewish lawmakers to make countering antisemitism in schools their top priority this year. They sought to create a list of words and ideas that could not be mentioned in classrooms, including heavily disputed claims about Israel. The effort sparked the biggest, most emotional legislative fight of the year: Should the government regulate what can be taught in schools? If so, how far should it go?
At issue was Assembly Bill 715, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law this month after it went through multiple major, sometimes last-minute rewrites during months of political tussling.
Champions have argued the law will protect Jewish students from rising bullying and discrimination, sometimes from teachers. While the state does not collect data on antisemitism in schools, reports of anti-Jewish bias statewide have doubled between 2021 and 2024, according to the California Department of Justice. Last year, more than 15% of all hate crime events in California were anti-Jewish, even though Jewish people make up about 3% of the state population.
“We cannot hide from the profoundly unfortunate truth that Jewish kids are being isolated, made to feel unwelcome, and verbally and physically attacked. And far too often, our schools are failing to protect them,” Assemblymember Rick Zbur, a Los Angeles Democrat and co-author of the bill, said during a May hearing, when the bill started as merely a promise to curb antisemitism in schools.
Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur speaks to lawmakers during an Assembly floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Oct. 1, 2024.
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Fred Greaves
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CalMatters
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By July, it had undergone a major overhaul, including determining that any instruction that “directly or indirectly deny Israel’s right to exist,” equating Israelis with Nazis, or disrespecting “the historical, cultural, or religious significance of Israel to the Jewish people” would count as creating an “antisemitic learning environment.” It reinvigorated debates over whether criticism of Israel’s founding, or even the belief that Jewish people should have an independent country in their ancient homeland, counts as antisemitic — something Jewish thinkers do not agree on.
Mainstream Jewish groups maintain that anti-Zionism, a broad term that generally opposes the idea of a standalone state with a Jewish-majority population, is antisemitic. Many Jewish academics, however, don’t think it is antisemitic on its own, but they agree that blaming individual Jews for the actions taken by the Israeli government is antisemitic.
That July version of the bill drew heavy opposition from a vast coalition of education groups, from teachers unions to school boards, civil rights advocates and Muslim community organizations, who feared censorship of pro-Palestinian voices and infringement upon academic freedom. They would remain opposed through its many iterations, and many of them urged Newsom to veto it.
Their concerns lingered even as the bill was ultimately watered down in the final days of this year’s legislative session to address bias more broadly: The final version no longer mentions the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and bars using professional development materials that violate the state’s anti-discrimination laws. It also requires “factually accurate” instruction that is free of “advocacy, personal opinion, bias, or partisanship” — a controversial element the bill’s authors said they ran out of time to tackle and promised to “clean up” next year.
“In its current form, this bill only reinforces broader national trends of silencing constitutionally protected speech, erasing historically relevant curriculum, and persecuting anyone who expresses even the slightest opposition to the federal administration,” said Assemblymember Robert Garcia, a freshman Democratic lawmaker from Rancho Cucamonga and former teacher and school board member, who ultimately abstained from voting on the measure.
The squabble over the bill was messy, marked by hundreds of attendees, hourslong hearings, and accusations of bad faith from both sides. Bauer-Kahan called a teachers union advocate who opposed the bill antisemitic. After the bill passed out of the Legislature, a handful of pro-Palestinian activists protested from the Assembly gallery for more than an hour, yelling: “You will all have blood on your hands!”
Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan speaks in support of SCR 135, which would designate May 6, 2024 as California Holocaust Memorial Day on the Assembly floor at the state Capitol in Sacramento on April 29, 2024.
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Miguel Gutierrez Jr.
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CalMatters
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The tension highlights the discomfort for California Democrats, who, despite having traditionally defended Israel, have had to reckon with a base growing increasingly critical of Israel. They faced a tough choice: Support the bill and risk upsetting some of the most powerful labor allies as well as their pro-Palestinian constituents, or oppose the bill and risk being labeled as antisemitic or unwilling to combat antisemitism. Amid the pressure, some Democratic lawmakers voted for the bill even as they warned it could be used to censor free speech. Others abstained instead of taking a side.
“I'm actually surprised that California state legislators would want to even touch it, because it's just so radioactive right now,” said Kim Nalder, a political science professor at Sacramento State University. “It just feels like at this political moment, we want to lower the temperature, not shine a spotlight on ways in which we might target each other.”
The issue was such a hot potato that many lawmakers avoided tackling it early in the legislative process, when policy differences are often ironed out, said Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, a freshman progressive Democrat from Pasadena who chairs the Senate Education Committee. When the bill arrived in her committee in June, it still had no substantive language. Some lawmakers told her to not touch it either, while others left it up to her to “take care of it,” she said.
“The ball got thrown to me,” she told CalMatters. "And people knew that they were doing that."
'People would end up being very angry on both sides'
The Gaza war has forced a tidal shift within the Democratic base, as voters’ support for Israel’s military campaign tanked over the past two years. That has forced some Democrats, even moderates who have historically backed Israel, to condemn the country and pull away from pro-Israel donors. Young Democrats are also more critical of Israel than their older peers, so any vote that could be perceived as silencing pro-Palestinian voices is risky.
“A very strong part of Democratic and leftist values that we are seeing expressed now is anti-genocide or anti-war,” Nalder said. “(For) my students who are politically active, this is one of the chief issues that they care about.”
The bill also came as President Donald Trump ordered immigration agents to arrest student activists critical of the Israeli government and withheld billions of dollars in funding from universities for their alleged failure to protect Jewish students. At least half a dozen other state Legislatures sought to fight antisemitism in schools this year, with some adopting a highly disputed definition of antisemitism in state education codes. Enraged, some opponents accused California Democrats of taking a page out of Trump’s playbook.
But the Democratic lawmakers had to balance all that with the risk of upsetting the Jewish community, a key voting block. A no vote could be construed as antisemitic, making the lawmaker vulnerable to challenges in the next election, Nalder said.
The bill was the sole priority of the 18-member California Legislative Jewish Caucus, which is composed entirely of Democrats and led by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel of Encino and Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, who chair the budget committees in their respective chambers.
Neither would speak with CalMatters about what happened with the bill. Gabriel’s office did not respond to several CalMatters emails seeking an interview, whereas Wiener declined to comment, pointing CalMatters to the bill authors instead.
David Bocarsly, executive director of the Jewish Public Affairs Committee, which sponsored the bill, said the caucus’ backing was crucial.
“The Jewish caucus was able to leverage their influence and respect with their colleagues and effectively represent the Jewish community’s needs,” he said.
Pérez acknowledged the political challenge, telling CalMatters she would have preferred to hold the bill until next year, but said legislative leaders had promised to deliver a bill the governor could sign this year. She said some colleagues told her it was “an impossible situation” to navigate.
“They felt like there was no winning,” she said. “Regardless of what they would try to do to make amendments to it … people would end up being very angry on both sides.”
A debate over academic freedom
The clash over AB 715 is the latest episode of yearslong strife over how to teach about marginalized communities in California’s K-12 schools and who should be included.
In past years, the fight primarily focused on ethnic studies — a mandatory high school course on the history and culture of groups such as Latinos, Asian Americans, African Americans and Native Americans. The state adopted a model curriculum in 2021, after years of fine-tuning amid disputes over which ethnic minority groups to teach about and criticism from Jewish advocates, who accused past versions of being antisemitic.
Jewish lawmakers championed a bill earlier this year that aimed to tackle antisemitism by restricting the ethnic studies curriculum, but the effort was stopped early in its tracks, and legislators turned to AB 715 instead.
“This is a bill about protecting Jewish students, and it shouldn't have been controversial,” said Bocarsly, of JPAC. “If we don't teach empathy and understand it, we're going to build a generation of intolerance, and that's what we're trying to correct for.”
He said AB 715 was “the hardest political fight in JPAC’s history” and that the initial definition of an antisemitic learning environment was only meant to offer teachers guidance.
But opponents had two major concerns: that the bill’s initial definition of antisemitic learning environment risked silencing discord about Israel, and that even in its final watered-down version it could chill free speech and open teachers up to lawsuits for teaching about anything controversial.
“Jews are most safe when democracy flourishes, when pluralism flourishes, not when rights are taken away,” said David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association and a Jewish father to three children who attend public schools.
A classroom at a high school in Imperial County on Dec. 12, 2023.
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Kristian Carreon
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CalMatters
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What’s safe for Jews was itself a matter of disagreement among the bill’s backers and dissenters. Bocarsly said CTA leadership’s opposition to every version of the bill shows that they “have little interest in supporting a bill that would protect Jewish students.”
Goldberg, in an interview, called that accusation “a lot of chutzpah, frankly.”
The fact the bill even tried to prescribe what an antisemitic environment looked like in classrooms was concerning to Kenneth Stern, a scholar on hate. More than 20 years ago, he was the lead author of the highly controversial definition of antisemitism that’s been adopted by some states this year. It all but labels anti-Zionism as a form of antisemitism. Now, nearly 50 countries, including the U.S., have embraced the definition.
Though Stern wrote the definition, he opposes using it to restrict speech in schools, arguing that it could threaten academic freedom and fuel censorship by chilling discussion about controversial topics. Stern said despite all the revisions made during the process, the final version will likely make antisemitism worse.
The law creates an antisemitism prevention coordinator to advise education and legislative leaders and says the person in that role should use federal guidelines published under former President Joe Biden as “a basis” for decision-making. The controversial definition of antisemitism Stern wrote is labeled as the most prominent definition of antisemitism in those guidelines, though it mentions others.
“I understand why people care about (preventing antisemitism in schools),” he said. “They want the Legislature to do something. I think the legislators are sincere that they want to do something. This is the wrong thing.”
Educators like Goldberg worry the bill could allow bad-faith critics to also dispute a wide array of controversial topics taught in schools. Will it become the basis for critics of the transgender community to pressure teachers to say there are only two genders, he wondered.
Gabriel Kahn, a Jewish teacher in Oakland who said he’s being investigated by his school district after challenging the content of an antisemitic training last year, said he fears prosecution for voicing the need to distinguish between antisemitism and criticism of Israel.
“What I’m most afraid of is that in the Democratic state of California, we can pass a censorship bill that protects a foreign nation from criticism implicitly,” he said. “What does that say about the future of academic freedom in our country?”
CalMatters reporter Carolyn Jones contributed reporting.
A federal judge's ruling Monday in response to a major antitrust lawsuit filed by a dozen states has paused Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. discovery.
About the lawsuit: The attorneys general allege Paramount's purchase of Warner Bros. would reduce competition, hurting filmgoers, TV and news consumers and especially those who create the entertainment and other content they rely on.
Paramount's owners were planning to have secured firm control of Hollywood rival Warner Bros. Discovery by the end of this week.
Paramount's owners were planning to have secured firm control of Hollywood rival Warner Bros. Discovery by the end of this week.
A federal judge's ruling Monday in response to a major antitrust lawsuit filed by a dozen states has ground the process to a halt.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted a temporary restraining order to the states to pause the acquisition. The attorneys general allege Paramount's purchase of Warner Bros. would reduce competition, hurting filmgoers, TV and news consumers and especially those who create the entertainment and other content they rely on.
The $111 billion deal would unite Paramount and Warner Bros. movie and television studios, streamers Paramount+ and HBO Max, the nation's most-watched broadcast outlet (CBS) with 50 cable channels, and CNN and CBS News under the same roof.
"This is a critical first win in our case to ensure this megamerger never sees the light of day," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement issued to the press.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
NPR's Mandalit Del Barco contributed to this story. Copyright 2026 NPR
A special education class at Redwood Heights Elementary School in Oakland.
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Alison Yin
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EdSource
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Topline:
Los Angeles Unified special education teachers and parents are bracing for another year of large classes, despite a first-ever limit the union negotiated this spring.
What the contract says: Under the new contract ratified by the United Teachers Los Angeles, integrated classes with both special and general education students are limited to 20 students per teacher.
Why it matters: Teachers say a stipend compensates them for additional work, but it's not about the money. They want the district to focus on hiring more full-time staff so that educators can better meet student needs.
Read on ... for how crowded classes are affecting special ed students and teachers.
Los Angeles Unified special education teachers and parents are bracing for another year of large classes when the new school year begins, despite a first-ever limit the union negotiated this spring.
With booming special education enrollment, teachers say the district needs to hire more full-time staff to ensure tens of thousands of students receive the extra support they need — and are legally entitled to — every day.
Under the new contract ratified by the United Teachers Los Angeles, integrated classes with both special and general education students are limited to 20 students per teacher.
Classrooms with only special education students have different ratios, and those teachers qualify for a monthly stipend of $500 to $1,000, depending on how many students over the limit they have.
But teachers say that although the extra pay doesn't hurt, they want the district to focus on making both kinds of classes smaller.
Debby Schneider, a special education teacher and UTLA committee chair, told LAist that it’s not about the money.
“The stipend is to deter the district from overloading us. Really, what they need to do is open more programs and hire more educators,” she said.
Stipends for large classes aren’t new, but Schneider told LAist that in previous years, extra compensation didn’t stop the district from overfilling classrooms. Because of that history, she said she’s concerned this year won’t be any different.
As of July 17, there were 22 open positions for teachers in full-time special education classrooms, and three vacancies for those who work in integrated classes.
There are over 70,000 students enrolled in LAUSD’s special education services, which include support for learning disabilities, autism, and hearing and visual impairments. A district spokesperson wouldn't specify how many integrated classrooms are overfilled. The district is “continuously assessing staffing needs,” the district wrote in a statement, but would not comment on specific plans to hire more special ed teachers for the upcoming year.
A growing need
According to UTLA, the number of students in LAUSD’s special education services has grown over 7% since 2022, even though overall student enrollment is down by nearly 4%.
Emily Kolman, whose kindergartner receives speech therapy services, said that resources are overextended and the district isn’t doing much to help.
Kolman said her son was in an integrated class of 26 students last year. She told LAist that the teacher continuously asked the district to help her work with students in smaller groups. That help only came near summer break, which made it hard to identify students who needed extra support through the year.
Kolman and her son's teacher acknowledged that her son needed additional behavioral testing, but it was “like pulling teeth” to get a screening organized by the district. She’s now paying out-of-pocket to get him tested privately.
“I feel like our students with needs are bothersome or a nuisance for the public school” district, she told LAist.
Disability Law In Education: Know Your Rights
Here are some of the basics:
Families are entitled to free appropriate public education. There are laws and protections in place for certain disabled students. LAist has an in-depth resource for LAUSD families with disabilities.
Additional resources:
TASK: A California nonprofit that provides information, training and resources for families of children and youth with disabilities.
LAUSD teachers say they can’t support students in growing class sizes alone.
Margaret Miller, an elementary school special education teacher, recalled that in one large integrated classroom she assisted, a student would climb on the teacher while she gave a lesson.
“When you're getting another student, it's not just a body. It's not just a kid in the classroom. It comes with quite a bit of work,” she said.
Amy Bogartz, a teacher of Deaf students, emphasized that in special-needs settings, each student requires personalized support.
“Every student requires something different. You have a student that you just need to check in on. … Then you have that other student that you need to spend three hours with,” she said.
Teresa Gaines is a parent of an 11-year-old with phonological awareness deficit and “focus issues.” She said her family is feeling the impacts of large integrated class size. She told LAist that her son’s classes have ranged from 21 to 24 students and he has often had to wear headphones to block out the noise to concentrate.
Teachers are burning out too
Some teachers said their colleagues are leaving the classroom because they’re stretched too thin to handle student behavior, or because they don’t feel supported by their school’s administration.
According to EdSource, LAUSD’s special education teacher retention rate dropped from 90% to 77% between 2021 and 2024.
UTLA's Schneider explained that the special education workload is particularly challenging. She said some teachers have duties similar to general education teachers, including writing report cards, on top of the special ed services they provide. With extra students, it can cause exhaustion, she told LAist.
Gaines, the parent of the 11-year-old in special ed, said it’s important for the district to retain teachers who have extensive experience with special education.
“I don't want to lose staff who are already teaching and in the system. I'd rather support them … so that they can further benefit all of our students,” she said.
What’s next
Teachers of classes with only special education students can qualify for the new monthly stipend starting this fall. If their class is two or more students larger than the ratio, they will be paid through a process that includes verifying the class roster.
Contract negotiations for next year will begin in the spring.
Find Your LAUSD Board Member
LAUSD board members can amplify concerns from parents, students, and educators. Find your representative below.
District 1 map, includes Mid City, parts of South LA
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Burbank man say it helps cure feeling lonely in LA
Makenna Cramer
is a proud... Burbankian? Burbanker? Resident!
Published July 20, 2026 5:00 AM
Raz, as he prefers to be called, has sat down for a meal with nearly 20 strangers so far this year.
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Makenna Cramer
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LAist
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Topline:
On a Sunday morning, I walked into Coral Cafe in Burbank to have breakfast with a stranger. Here's how it went.
Why it matters: Raz, as he prefers to be called, has been meeting with different people — different strangers — over a cup of coffee and french toast almost every week for the past six months.
The backstory: The idea started when a solo meal turned into a spontaneous shared table with a woman who was also planning on eating alone.
Why now: So, he opened up the invite on Reddit. Nearly 20 neighbors have had a meal with him since then.
Read on... to learn more about the meals.
On a Sunday morning, I walked into Coral Cafe in Burbank to have breakfast with a stranger.
Raz, as he prefers to be called, has been meeting with different people — different strangers — over a cup of coffee and French toast almost every week for the past six months.
The idea started when a solo meal turned into a spontaneous shared table with a woman who was also planning on eating alone. Their hour-long conversation left a profound impact on Raz, and a lingering feeling that he wanted to have that kind of connection again.
So, he opened up the invite on Reddit. Nearly 20 neighbors have had a meal with him since then.
“For me, it's never been about who you are or the job you have,” he told LAist. “It's just more about the impact that we have on each other, and the impact that you have on me.”
A little ‘leap of faith’
I didn’t know much about Raz when I first got to the restaurant, not even his name.
I did know I was looking out for someone with shoulder length blonde hair and glasses, but I didn't need to guess much with the waiter in on the arrangement.
The waiter walked me right up to Raz at his usual table, and any of the awkwardness or strained small talk I expected evaporated almost immediately. Although we were more than 30 years apart in age, we had a lot in common.
For our second breakfast, I had bacon and hashbrowns while Raz had his usual French toast and fruit.
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Makenna Cramer
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LAist
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The hour-long breakfast quickly turned into two as we talked about family, politics, relationships, work, childhood, religion and health, to name a few. We made tentative plans to see each other again at Raz’s weekly dance classes, hugged, and parted ways.
“We're a puzzle, right? And all the pieces are everywhere … but if you start laying them down into the puzzle, it starts to create a giant picture,” he told me over another plate of French toast last week. “And that's kind of what it is, you know? It's that connection and disconnection.”
Stories from the series
Raz shares short posts on the Burbank subreddit about each breakfast, but he’s careful to avoid any identifying details of the neighbors he’s dining with or the conversations they have.
Instead, he refers to them as nicknames like the Artist, Captain Max and the Tornado.
Raz described the Artist in his post as a woman with “electric” energy who made the table seem “a little brighter from the moment she sat down.”
There was nothing pirate-like about Captain Max, but Raz wrote that he still found himself “on the ship, sitting on a barrel of rum, listening to our captain spin tales of the sea.”
The Tornado was a smart woman, “like big-brain, med-school smart,” who treated “life like a buffet,” Raz said in his post. After drinking an obscene amount of coffee together, they realized they still hadn’t gotten each other's names, but decided they didn’t need to, for the fun of it.
Southern California can feel lonely at times, which is why Raz said he went to the cafe to begin with. But he said he doesn’t feel that way anymore, at least since having Sunday breakfasts with strangers to look forward to.
“The more I get to know people, the more I want to know more people,” he said. “And to me, that's like a new feeling.”
A tradition in LA
There’s a history of having meals with strangers in Southern California, like with the Los Angeles Breakfast Club.
The club hosts weekly breakfasts at the Friendship Auditorium in Los Feliz — a storied tradition that dates back a century.
Anna Trumbo, vice president of the L.A. Breakfast Club, told LAist people often show up alone, and it’s a great opportunity to meet others outside of your age group.
“Everyone is so welcoming, and just immediately struck up conversations, and now these are some of my best friends,” Trumbo said. “But that first morning where it really was breakfast with strangers, felt very [much] like breathing a sigh of relief.”
How to join
You can reach out to have breakfast with Raz by emailing breakfastwithmeLA@gmail.com.
You can learn more about the Los Angeles Breakfast club, including tickets and membership details, on its website.
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
is an arts and general assignment reporter on LAist's Explore LA team.
Published July 20, 2026 5:00 AM
People sit under umbrellas in Laguna Beach to try to beat the heat.
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Kevin Carter
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Getty Images
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Topline:
Some SoCal cities are banning large canopies on their beaches, citing safety issues when lifeguards don't have a direct sight line to the ocean. Here’s a quick look at some of the rules in place.
City rules:
Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach limits canopies to 10’x10’ (100 sq ft)
Seal Beach bans tents; an umbrella or "device for shade" must be open on at least two sides.
Santa Monica bans canopies larger than 20 feet by 20 feet in size (or a total of 400 sq. ft)
Long Beach, L.A. County, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and Malibu do not have canopy bans.
Why it matters: The heat is driving many people to cool off at Southern California beaches. But beware of taking large shade structures or stringing some together, especially near lifeguard towers — you could be fined.
The heat is driving many of us to cool off at Southern California beaches. Some cities are seeing so many people — and their ever-increasing shade structures — that officials say they're worried for safety. That's because lifeguards need to maintain an unencumbered sightline to monitor swimmers and surfers in the water.
Two beach cities — Laguna Beach and Newport Beach — have made the news this year for changing their rules.
