Opening statements are made during a board meeting at the Santa Ana Unified School District board room in Santa Ana, CA on June 13, 2023 (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
(JTA) —
A large school district in Orange County, California, will stop teaching ethnic studies courses that several Jewish advocacy groups say featured antisemitic content. The decision is part of a settlement reached this week in a lawsuit alleging the district illegally concealed the development of the courses from the public.
The settlement requires the Santa Ana Unified School District to refrain from teaching three courses — Ethnic Studies World Geography, Ethnic Studies World Histories, and Ethnic Studies: Perspectives, Identities, and Social Justice — until they undergo revisions through a transparent process that includes public input.
According to the three Jewish groups that filed the lawsuit — the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights, the Anti-Defamation League, and the American Jewish Committee — the resolution represents a victory for both the Jewish community and students’ education. However, they also pledged to remain vigilant against similar issues arising in other school districts.
“This case sends a message — not just in Santa Ana, but from coast to coast — that if school leaders proceed with implementing antisemitic curriculum and material in violation of the law, we will use the courts to protect the community,” James Pasch, the ADL’s vice president of national litigation, said in a press release announcing the settlement.
A district spokesperson told local media that officials will not be commenting on the settlement at this time.
The fight at the Santa Ana school district is part of a broader battle that began years ago when California moved to require ethnic studies in high schools. As an academic discipline historically considered to be aligned with pro-Palestinian activism, ethnic studies has at times raised concerns among Jewish advocacy groups wary of content that could be antisemitic or delegitimize Israel.
California officials initially considered endorsing a specific statewide model curriculum, but following intense debate over allegations of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias in that document, they abandoned that plan and instead allowed individual school districts to determine how to teach the subject. Rather than settling the issue, that decision shifted the conflict to local school boards across the state.
As part of the settlement, the district must apply special guidelines for controversial topics when teaching about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Lessons must be fact-based, include multiple perspectives, and be presented impartially by teachers.
The settlement also outlines specific content restrictions:
“Materials that, for example, teach, state, or imply that the Jewish people do not have a right to self-determination (e.g., by claiming the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavor) or teach, describe, or refer to double standards by requiring of Israel a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation shall not be used unless taught through an appropriate critical lens,” the settlement reads.
Language in that paragraph closely resembles clauses of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, a widely adopted document favored by Jewish groups. Critics say the definition tars some legitimate criticism of Israel as antisemitism.
The district also agreed to pay $43,000 to a private law firm that assisted the Brandeis Center, a legal group that aids Jewish and pro-Israel students, in the case.
Filed in 2023, the lawsuit alleged that the district’s Ethnic Studies Steering Committee— now permanently disbanded — violated California’s open meeting laws while developing the courses.
According to evidence presented by the plaintiffs’ attorneys, officials deliberately made it difficult for Jewish community members to participate by scheduling meetings on Jewish holidays. Members of the steering committee allegedly stated that “Jews are the oppressors” and called Jewish groups critical of the ethnic studies courses “racist.” In a discussion following Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, an official reportedly refused to condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization.
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