New laws coming to California classrooms in 2025 as the state wraps up a busy year in education

California classrooms will see less smartphone use, more inclusive history classes and additional courses in the new year as a slew of new education laws take effect in 2025.

The legislation comes as the state wraps up a busy year in education. K-12 public schools saw a continued decline in enrollment even as transitional kindergarten enrollment could soar with the inclusion of all 4-year-olds in 2025-26. California students also saw slight improvements in test score performance despite continuing to trail pre-pandemic scores. And gender identity debates rocked school communities as leaders struggled to balance parental rights with inclusive classrooms.

California universities were also embroiled in battles over gender identity — with the debate coming to the Bay Area over a San Jose State University athlete — and the Israel-Hamas war, which sparked protests at college campuses across the state. Bay Area universities also saw a drop in freshmen enrollment amid a national financial aid mess that delayed hundreds of thousands of high school seniors’ aid applications.

Here are some changes Californians can expect in the classroom in 2025.

Legacy Admissions Ban

• California universities will no longer be allowed to give preferential treatment to applicants who have ties to alumni or donors, which could be a major upset at schools such as the University of Southern California, where 22% of admitted students for fall 2023 had ties to graduates or donors, and Stanford University, which reported 14% of admitted students had legacy or donor ties.

Cellphone restrictions

• In the fall, California became the sixth state to require public schools to restrict or ban student smartphone use on school grounds. While the Phone-Free Schools Act gives school districts until July 1, 2026, to enact smartphone restrictions, Gov. Gavin Newsom has been vocal about encouraging schools to make changes immediately.

Gender identity

• California became the first state in the nation to prohibit school districts from requiring employees to notify parents if their child uses a different pronoun or name than what’s on their school record, referred to by critics as “forced outing” policies.

Curriculum

• History teachers will be required to teach students the negative consequences of Spanish colonization and the Gold Rush, including the treatment and perspectives of Native Americans.
• High school students will also be required to take a one-semester ethnic studies course beginning in the 2025-26 school year.
• Some students could also see expanded courses in personal finance and education on the dangers of fentanyl in health classes, although schools have until 2027 and 2026 respectively to offer courses.

Challenges remain

Some unresolved education issues are also likely to make a reappearance in 2025. The debate over the state’s new ethnic studies course and how to teach it will likely resurface, as a California bill designed to add guardrails to prevent the course from veering into antisemtisim has been delayed amid complaints of censorship and opposition from educators.

The debate over gender identity and sexual orientation will likely continue to ensnare schools and universities as President Donald Trump prepares to return to office later this month. Trump has threatened to enact legislation that would bar transgender athletes from participating in sports and roll back transgender student protections in schools. New federal sexual harassment and discrimination policies at hundreds of California schools and universities are currently frozen as a legal battle unfolds more than 1,500 miles away. California universities are also warning international students to return to campus before Trump is sworn in on January 20, in anticipation of a potential Trump travel ban. Trump previously signed an executive order in 2017 temporarily banning the entry of individuals from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

And California school finances will likely play a big role in education in the new year as declining enrollment, dwindling pandemic-era funding and the state’s $27.6 billion budget deficit have left schools facing multi-million dollar budget shortfalls and even caused school closures.