After the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) and many others condemned a proposed Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) for California students that was anti-Semitic and anti-Israel, the California State Board of Education rejected the ESMC, stating that it “falls short and needs to be substantially revised.”   

A statement issued on August 12, 2019, by the President, Vice President and a Member of the Board of Education explained:  “Ethnic studies can be an important tool to improve school climate and increase our understanding of one another.  A model curriculum should be accurate, free of bias, appropriate for all learners in our diverse state, and align with Governor Newsom’s vision of a California  for all.”

The statement also provides that a new draft ethnic studies curriculum would be developed for review and approval which “aligns to California’s values.”

Morton A. Klein, ZOA’s National President, and Susan B. Tuchman, Esq., director of the ZOA’s Center for Law and Justice, praised the Board of Education’s decision to reject the ESMC:  “The California State Board of Education made the right and necessary decision to reject the ESMC, which essentially ignored Jews as an ethnic group and actually disparaged them instead, omitted anti-Semitism from the many forms of hatred and bigotry defined in the ESMC’s Glossary, and promoted the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.  We look forward to reviewing the next draft of the ethnic studies curriculum, which we hope and expect will provide California students with an accurate, balanced and scholarly understanding of Jews and other ethnic groups.

“We thank ZOA’s supporters who wrote to the California Department of Education to express their objections to the ESMC and urge that it be revised.  All of us must continue to be vigilant in ensuring that our children are not miseducated and indoctrinated – in California or anywhere else – to hate Jews or Israel.”