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
Gender identity
Curriculum
