Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 715 (AB715) for education equity on Oct. 7, 2025, according to the California Legislature Information website. This bill, which will take effect on Jan. 1, 2026, focuses on prohibiting discrimination, specifically naming anti-semitism, according to the website.
Regarding this policy and its implementation, the district will get input from the Superintendent, Director of Secondary Education, and Executive Director of Learning and Development, Norwood said. The conversation will feature voices from different people with different backgrounds and perspectives, he added.
“That’s one of the things about Milpitas that’s always cool, is that there is no dominant culture,” Norwood said. “Everybody has a voice or a say or an opportunity to chime in on something that broadens the worldview or the view of each of the individuals participating.”
Given what is happening in the Middle East, this reaction and hatred towards Jewish people unfortunately emerged, Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said. The policy came about due to antisemitism around the state and other parts of the country, she added.
“Just in the last five years we’ve experienced it with people of African ancestry, during Covid with people of Asian descent, and now with this world situation, we are experiencing hate around people of Jewish descent,” Jordan said. “Maybe it’s needed in other parts (of the country).”
The district already has their equity policy which covers most of the points in the AB715 bill, Jordan said. The district had a board meeting last spring on their ethnic studies classes, she added.
“Actually part of the reason maybe AB715 emerged is because of the way that some classes around ethnic studies were implemented,” Jordan said. “Not in Milpitas, but in other parts of the state, it was presented in a way that made some people of Jewish descent feel like they were being targeted and blamed for what’s happening in Israel and Gaza. Part of the reason AB715 came about is to assure that in our ethnic studies classes, we are not teaching about one ethnicity being valued over another.”
AB715 came about because the number of incidents of antisemitism nationwide has been going up, social studies teacher Ana Pardo said.
“It’s also true that most people find it difficult to distinguish between Jews and Israelis, and to separate the actions of the country of Israel from the religion of the Jews, especially of American Jews,” Pardo said. “It’s a law that on its title says it’s there to protect this particular group.”
Pardo believes it is her job as an educator to provide the tools and background necessary to help students reach their own conclusions about history, government, and economic events, she said.
“As a teacher, you’re trying to create an environment that is trying to help students see different angles of the same conflict – in this case (the Israeli-Palestinian conflict), see the humanity of all the groups involved, see the validity of all the arguments,” Pardo said.
As a social studies teacher, Pardo’s curriculum has already been impacted, she said. This impact isn’t just from AB715, but from other cultural forces and movements outside of school, she added.
“What we’re seeing, it seems to me, is a mix of things, but it includes a backlash against some of the cultural forces that were here before,” Pardo said. “My job, and the jobs of everybody will be in some way impacted by these new cultural trends or these opposite cultural trends.”
Pardo believes that efforts to link people tend to be more effective in reducing animosity and making different groups feel safer around each other than prohibitions, she said.
“If this bill was more about opening channels of communication, I think that would have been better than prohibition about saying things, which can be difficult, because it violates the First Amendment,” Pardo said. “The other aspect is that a lot of what may make some students feel insecure doesn’t happen when we are in person with one another. It may happen online.”
Freedom of speech is an important right in a democratic society, Pardo said. Anything that curtails freedom of speech also hinders democracy, she added. In a democratic society, everybody has equal rights, she said.
“There are groups within society, for many different reasons, that have more power than others,” Pardo said. “That is also a reality. And when you have a power imbalance, some people may need extra protection, and that may include protection against discrimination and protection against hate speech.”
The district focuses on building a Culture of We, so AB715 does not impact the district, Jordan said.
“We already have it in our policies and in our first strategic commitment that we will not discriminate against people,” Jordan said. “In fact, we are doing everything we can, and it’s an expectation that we build a sense of belonging for every person, regardless of what their race, ethnicity, culture, religion or gender is.”
