diff --git a/avro/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/AvroMapper.java b/avro/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/AvroMapper.java
index ea16d85bb..d8b515e6a 100644
--- a/avro/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/AvroMapper.java
+++ b/avro/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/AvroMapper.java
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ protected JsonMappingException _invalidSchemaDefinition(JavaType type,
     public AvroSchema schemaFrom(InputStream in) throws IOException
     {
         try {
-            return new AvroSchema(new Schema.Parser().setValidate(true)
+            return new AvroSchema(new Schema.Parser()
                     .parse(in));
         } finally {
             in.close();
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ public AvroSchema schemaFrom(InputStream in) throws IOException
      */
     public AvroSchema schemaFrom(String schemaAsString) throws IOException
     {
-        return new AvroSchema(new Schema.Parser().setValidate(true)
+        return new AvroSchema(new Schema.Parser()
                 .parse(schemaAsString));
     }
 
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ public AvroSchema schemaFrom(String schemaAsString) throws IOException
      */
     public AvroSchema schemaFrom(File schemaFile) throws IOException
     {
-        return new AvroSchema(new Schema.Parser().setValidate(true)
+        return new AvroSchema(new Schema.Parser()
                 .parse(schemaFile));
     }
 }
diff --git a/avro/src/test/java/perf/PerfBase.java b/avro/src/test/java/perf/PerfBase.java
index 04b194918..dae019f09 100644
--- a/avro/src/test/java/perf/PerfBase.java
+++ b/avro/src/test/java/perf/PerfBase.java
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ protected GenericRecord itemToRecord(MediaItem item) throws IOException
     }
 
     protected static AvroSchema itemSchema() {
-        return new AvroSchema(new Schema.Parser().setValidate(true).parse(JVM_SERIALIZERS_SCHEMA_STR));
+        return new AvroSchema(new Schema.Parser().parse(JVM_SERIALIZERS_SCHEMA_STR));
     }
 
     protected static MediaItem buildItem()
diff --git a/release-notes/VERSION-2.x b/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
index aa897051c..c991548af 100644
--- a/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
+++ b/release-notes/VERSION-2.x
@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@ Active maintainers:
 === Releases ===
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+2.21.1 (not yet released)
+
+#645: (avro) Remove use of Avro `Schema.Parser().setValidate()` to allow
+  use of Avro core 1.12.1 (2.x)
+
 2.21.0 (18-Jan-2026)
 
 #599: (cbor) Unable to deserialize stringref-enabled CBOR with ignored properties