Arizona governor vetoes bill banning antisemitic teaching, calls it an attack on educators

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoes a proposal that would have banned teaching antisemitism at the state’s public K-12 schools, universities and colleges and would have exposed educators who violate the new rules to discipline and lawsuits.

The proposal would have prohibited teachers and administrators from teaching or promoting antisemitism or antisemitic actions that create a hostile environment, calling for the genocide of any group, or requiring students to advocate for an antisemitic point of view. It also would have barred public schools from using public money to support the teaching of antisemitism.

Educators would have personally been responsible for covering the costs of damages in lawsuits for violating the rules.

Hobbs, a Democrat, says the bill is not about antisemitism but rather about attacking teachers.

“It puts an unacceptable level of personal liability in place for our public school, community college, and university educators and staff, opening them up to threats of personally costly lawsuits,” she says in a statement. “Additionally, it sets a dangerous precedent that unfairly targets public school teachers while shielding private school staff.”

Hobbs described antisemitism as a very troubling issue in the US, but says students and parents can go through the state’s Board of Education to report antisemitism.

The measure cleared the Legislature last week on a 33-20 vote by the House, including a few Democrats who crossed party lines to support it. It’s one of a few proposals to combat antisemitism across the country.

Democrats tried but failed to remove the lawsuit provision and swap out references to antisemitism within the bill with “unlawful discrimination” to reflect other discrimination.