AB 2615 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Educational equity: discrimination.

Summary

(1) Existing law states the policy of the State of California is to afford all persons in public schools, regardless of their disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other specified characteristic, equal rights and opportunities in the educational institutions of the state. Existing law requires teacher instruction and instructional materials, including materials adopted by the State Board of Education and any governing body, to be factually accurate, align with the adopted curriculum and standards, and be consistent with accepted standards of professional responsibility, rather than advocacy, personal opinion, bias, or partisanship. This bill would revise and recast the above-described requirement on teacher instruction and instructional materials by, among other things, deleting the requirement that teacher instruction and instructional materials be consistent with accepted standards of professional responsibility. (2) Existing law authorizes a person to file a complaint of unlawful discrimination with a local educational agency using the uniform complaint process or directly with the Superintendent of Public Instruction, as provided. Existing law requires a person who files a complaint with an educational institution, as defined, to be advised by that institution that civil law remedies may also be available, as specified. Existing law authorizes a party to a written complaint of prohibited discrimination to appeal the action taken by the governing board of a school district to the State Department of Education. Existing law authorizes a party to a written complaint of prohibited discrimination to appeal to the department based on the governing board of a school district's failure to issue an investigation report within a certain timeline. Prior to direct intervention by the Superintendent regarding an appeal to the department based on a failure to issue an investigation report within a specified timeline, existing law requires the department to attempt to work with the local educational agency to issue a local educational agency report, within a specified timeline, to the Superintendent. This bill would instead, prior to direct intervention by the Superintendent, require the department to notify the local educational agency, in writing, to issue a local educational agency investigation report to the complainant and the department within 20 days of the notification. The bill also would instead require a person who files a complaint with a local educational agency to be advised by that local educational agency that civil law remedies may also be available, as specified. (3) If instructional materials are found to have resulted in unlawful discrimination, existing law requires those materials to be immediately and permanently omitted from the course materials and prohibits those materials from being used in any current course offerings or any subsequent course offerings. This bill would require the Superintendent to ensure that local educational agencies omit all portions of the instructional materials found to have resulted in unlawful discrimination.

Issues: ✓ Education

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 20, 2026 Last action May 28, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

04/27/26 - Amended Assembly → 05/28/26 - Amended Assembly · 3 edits · May 28, 2026

MINOR

The May 28 amendment to AB 2615 makes two substantive changes: it narrows the entity required to advise complainants about available civil law remedies from any 'educational institution' to specifically 'local educational agencies,' and it simplifies the standard for teacher instruction by removing the requirements that instruction be 'balanced, fair,' and 'foster critical thinking,' while consolidating 'personal opinion' and 'opinion on controversial issues' into a single phrase. These changes make the bill less prescriptive about what teachers must do in their instruction while retaining the factual accuracy and curriculum alignment requirements.

SCOPE

Section 262.3(b) now requires only local educational agencies (not all educational institutions) to advise complainants that civil law remedies may be available, narrowing who bears this obligation.

REQUIREMENT

Section 51500(b) removed the requirements that teacher instruction be 'balanced, fair,' and 'foster critical thinking.' The standard is now simply that instruction be factually accurate and align with state adopted curriculum and standards, rather than issue advocacy, personal opinion on controversial issues, bias, or partisanship.

DEFINITION

In both Section 51500(b) and Section 51501(b), the separate prohibitions on 'personal opinion' and 'opinion on controversial issues' were merged into a single phrase: 'personal opinion on controversial issues,' which is a narrower prohibition than two independent ones.

02/20/26 - Introduced → 04/16/26 - Amended Assembly · 8 edits · Apr 16, 2026

MODERATE

AB 2615 was dramatically expanded from a nonsubstantive technical fix to a pupil mental health notification provision into a comprehensive educational equity and anti-discrimination bill. The amended version adds new requirements for teacher instruction to be 'balanced, fair, and foster critical thinking,' creates a structured complaint and appeal process with a 20-day deadline for local agencies to issue investigation reports, prohibits banning textbooks on the basis of inclusive content, and establishes financial penalties against school districts that use discriminatory instructional materials.

SCOPE

Bill scope expanded from a single technical amendment to Section 49428 (mental health notification) to also amend Sections 262.3, 51500, 51501, and 60151 of the Education Code, adding an entire educational equity and anti-discrimination framework.

REQUIREMENT

Teacher instruction requirements changed: removed the requirement that instruction be 'consistent with accepted standards of professional responsibility' and added that instruction must be 'balanced, fair, and foster critical thinking' in addition to being factually accurate and aligned with adopted curriculum.

New prohibition: governing boards may not ban appropriately adopted textbooks or instructional materials on the basis that they contain inclusive and diverse perspectives, including those complying with Sections 51204.5, 51933, 51934, and 60040.

ENFORCEMENT

New financial penalty provision: a local educational agency found to have violated Section 244(a) will have its total principal apportionment funding reduced by an amount not exceeding what it spent on the violating instructional materials, subject to constitutional minimum funding floors.

New corrective action framework: if the Superintendent finds a violation of Section 244(a), the LEA must take corrective action within 60 days, which may include technical assistance from the Office of Civil Rights, regular reporting, alternative instructional materials, and an improvement plan. For antisemitism violations, the plan must be developed in consultation with the Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator.

Changed the remedy for discriminatory instructional materials: instead of requiring the entire material to be 'immediately and permanently omitted from course materials,' the Superintendent now ensures LEAs omit 'all violating portions' of the materials, allowing partial removal rather than total ban.

TIMELINE

Changed the pre-intervention process for discrimination complaints: instead of the department 'attempting to work with' the local agency, the department must now notify the agency in writing to issue an investigation report to both the complainant and the department within 20 days.

FISCAL

Fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the bill now has a state fiscal impact due to the new financial penalty and enforcement provisions.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

May 28, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2.

lower

May 28, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read third time and amended. Ordered to third reading. (Page 5541.)

lower

May 6, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (May 6).

lower

Apr 28, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Apr 27, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read second time and amended.

lower

Apr 23, 2026

Introduced

From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (April 22).

lower

Apr 20, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on ED.

lower

Apr 16, 2026

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on ED. Read second time and amended.

lower

Apr 16, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on ED.

lower

Feb 21, 2026

Lower · Passed

From printer. May be heard in committee March 23.

lower

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor