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SB-1380 Pupil instruction: social science: genocide.(2013-2014)

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SB1380:v94#DOCUMENT

Senate Bill No. 1380
CHAPTER 441

An act to amend Section 51226.3 of, and to add Section 51226.4 to, the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction.

[ Approved by Governor  September 18, 2014. Filed with Secretary of State  September 18, 2014. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1380, Wyland. Pupil instruction: social science: genocide.
Existing law requires the State Department of Education to incorporate materials relating to civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for teacher use, consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science and other requirements. Under existing law, the Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness testimony into the teaching of human rights, genocide, and the Holocaust. Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, recommend curriculum frameworks to the State Board of Education.
This bill would require the commission to consider including the Armenian Genocide in the recommended history-social science curriculum framework when the history-social science curriculum framework is revised as required by law. The bill would specify that the Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony into the teaching of human rights, the Holocaust, and genocide, including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides. The bill would define oral testimony to mean firsthand accounts of significant historical events presented in a specified format. The bill would provide that the Legislature encourages certain actions relating to the instruction of genocide, including, among others, that content providers and teachers promote pupil analysis of genocides, including the ethnic, religious, and political causes.
This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 51226.3 of the Education Code, proposed by AB 1915, to be operative only if AB 1915 and this bill are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 51226.3 of the Education Code is amended to read:

51226.3.
 (a) The department shall incorporate into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for teacher use those materials developed by publishers of nonfiction, trade books, and primary sources, or other public or private organizations, that are age-appropriate and consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science that deal with civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust.
(b) (1) The Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony into the teaching of human rights, the Holocaust, and genocide, including, but not limited to, the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides.
(2) As used in this subdivision, “oral testimony” means the firsthand accounts of significant historical events presented in a format that includes, but is not limited to, in-person testimony, video, or a multimedia option, such as a DVD or an online video.
(c) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist in teaching about civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust.
(d) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist in teaching about the Great Irish Famine of 1845–50.
(e) The Great Irish Famine of 1845–50 shall be considered in the next cycle in which the history-social science curriculum framework and its accompanying instructional materials are adopted.
(f) When the history-social science curriculum framework is revised as required by law, the Instructional Quality Commission shall consider including the Armenian Genocide in the recommended history-social science curriculum framework.
(g) The Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide adopted by the state board, pursuant to Section 51226, shall be made available to schools in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, as soon as funding is available for this purpose. In addition, the department shall make the curriculum available on its Internet Web site.

SEC. 1.5.

 Section 51226.3 of the Education Code is amended to read:

51226.3.
 (a) (1) The department shall incorporate into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for teacher use those materials developed by publishers of nonfiction, trade books, and primary sources, or other public or private organizations, that are age appropriate and consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science that deal with civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust.
(2) The Legislature encourages the department to incorporate into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for teacher use those materials developed by publishers of nonfiction, trade books, and primary sources, or other public or private organizations, that are age appropriate and consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science that deal with the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides.
(b) (1) The Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony into the teaching of human rights, the Holocaust, and genocide, including, but not limited to, the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides.
(2) As used in this subdivision, “oral testimony” means the firsthand accounts of significant historical events presented in a format that includes, but is not limited to, in-person testimony, video, or a multimedia option, such as a DVD or an online video.
(c) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist them in teaching about civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, the Armenian Genocide, and the Holocaust.
(d) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist them in teaching about the Great Irish Famine of 1845–50.
(e) The Great Irish Famine of 1845–50 shall be considered in the next cycle in which the history-social science curriculum framework and its accompanying instructional materials are adopted.
(f) When the history-social science curriculum framework is revised as required by law, the Instructional Quality Commission shall consider including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides in the recommended history-social science curriculum framework.
(g) The Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide adopted by the state board, pursuant to Section 51226, shall be made available to schools in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, as soon as funding is available for this purpose. In addition, the department shall make the curriculum available on its Internet Web site.
(h) For purposes of this article, “Armenian Genocide” means the torture, starvation, and murder of 1,500,000 Armenians, which included death marches into the Syrian desert, by the rulers of the Ottoman Turkish Empire and the exile of more than 500,000 innocent people during the period from 1915 to 1923, inclusive.

SEC. 2.

 Section 51226.4 is added to the Education Code, to read:

51226.4.
 Pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 51226.3, the Legislature encourages all of the following:
(a) Instruction in the origins of genocide as a phenomenon throughout history that continues to the present day.
(b) Content providers and teachers to promote pupil analysis of genocides, including the ethnic, religious, and political causes.
(c) Content providers and teachers to incorporate instructional materials for pupils that examine the possible means of preventing and halting genocide policies or interventions by the United Nations, other groups of nations, or the United States.
(d) Examinations of interventions to prevent genocides should include arguments and evidence for and against intervention, the role of public support for the intervention, and the possible consequences of such interventions.

SEC. 3.

 Section 1.5 of this bill incorporates amendments to Section 51226.3 of the Education Code proposed by both this bill and Assembly Bill 1915. It shall only become operative if (1) both bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, (2) each bill amends Section 51226.3 of the Education Code, and (3) this bill is enacted after Assembly Bill 1915, in which case Section 1 of this bill shall not become operative.