Amended in Senate August 19, 2014

Amended in Senate June 25, 2014

Amended in Assembly May 23, 2014

Amended in Assembly April 22, 2014

Amended in Assembly April 1, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1915

Introduced by Assembly Members Nazarian and Achadjian

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Ammiano, Ian Calderon, Fox, Hall, Holden, Nestande, Patterson, and Wilk)

(Coauthors: Senators Berryhill, Lara, and Vidak)

February 19, 2014

An act to amend begin delete Sections 51220 and end delete begin insert Section end insert 51226.3 of the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1915, as amended, Nazarian. Pupil instruction: begin delete social sciences: end delete Armenian Genocide.

begin delete

Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer courses in specified areas of study, including social sciences. Existing law requires the instruction in social studies to provide instruction in, among other things, human rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust.

end delete begin delete

This bill would enact the Armenian Genocide Education Act and would require the instruction in human rights issues to also include particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of the Armenian Genocide, as defined. To the extent this bill would increase the level of service required to be provided by school districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

end delete

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, 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 begin insert would enact the Armenian Genocide Education Act and end insert would instead require the department to consider incorporating materials relating to civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, the Armenian genocide, and the Holocaust into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources, consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science. The bill would also encourage the department to incorporate materials related to the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides into those publications, and would require the commission to consider including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides in the recommended history-social science curriculum framework when the history-social science curriculum framework is revised as required by law. The bill would also specify that the Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony, as defined, into the teaching of human rights, the Holocaust, and genocide, including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides.

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The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

end delete begin delete

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

end delete

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program:  begin delete yes end delete begin insert no end insert .

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

SECTION 1.  

This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Armenian Genocide Education Act.

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SEC. 2.  

Section 51220 of the Education Code is amended to
read:

51220.  

The adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12,
inclusive, shall offer courses in the following areas of study:

(a) English, including knowledge of and appreciation for
literature, language, and composition, and the skills of reading,
listening, and speaking.

(b) Social sciences, drawing upon the disciplines of
anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science,
psychology, and sociology, designed to fit the maturity of the
pupils. Instruction shall provide a foundation for understanding
the history, resources, development, and government of California
and the United States of America; instruction in our American
legal system, the operation of the juvenile and adult criminal justice
systems, and the rights and duties of citizens under the criminal
and civil law and the State and Federal Constitutions; the
development of the American economic system, including the role
of the entrepreneur and labor; the relations of persons to their
human and natural environment; eastern and western cultures and
civilizations; human rights issues, with particular attention to the
study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery, the Armenian
Genocide, and the Holocaust, and contemporary issues.

(c) Foreign language or languages, beginning not later than
grade 7, designed to develop a facility for understanding, speaking,
reading, and writing the particular language.

(d) Physical education, with emphasis given to physical activities
that are conducive to health and to vigor of body and mind, as
required by Section 51222.

(e) Science, including the physical and biological aspects, with
emphasis on basic concepts, theories, and processes of scientific
investigation and on the place of humans in ecological systems,
and with appropriate applications of the interrelation and
interdependence of the sciences.

(f) Mathematics, including instruction designed to develop
mathematical understandings, operational skills, and insight into
problem-solving procedures.

(g) Visual and performing arts, including dance, music, theater,
and visual arts, with emphasis upon development of aesthetic
appreciation and the skills of creative expression.

(h) Applied arts, including instruction in the areas of consumer
and homemaking education, industrial arts, general business
education, or general agriculture.

(i) Career technical education designed and conducted for the
purpose of preparing youth for gainful employment in the
occupations and in the numbers that are appropriate to the
personnel needs of the state and the community served and relevant
to the career desires and needs of the pupils.

(j) Automobile driver education, designed to develop a
knowledge of the provisions of the Vehicle Code and other laws
of this state relating to the operation of motor vehicles, a proper
acceptance of personal responsibility in traffic, a true appreciation
of the causes, seriousness, and consequences of traffic accidents,
and to develop the knowledge and attitudes necessary for the safe
operation of motor vehicles. A course in automobile driver
education shall include education in the safe operation of
motorcycles.

(k) Other studies as may be prescribed by the governing board.

end delete

begin delete SEC. 3. end delete
begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

Section 51226.3 of the Education Code is amended to
read:

51226.3.  

(a) (1) The department shall consider incorporating
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, the
Armenian genocide, 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.

begin delete

SEC. 4.  

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

end delete