BILL NUMBER: SB 552	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Calderon

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

   An act to amend Section 51220 of the Education Code, relating to
pupil instruction.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 552, as introduced, Calderon. Pupil instruction: social
sciences: violence awareness.
   Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 7 to
12, inclusive, to offer courses in specified areas of instruction,
including social sciences.
   This bill would provide that instruction in the area of social
sciences may include instruction on violence awareness, which may
include a component drawn from personal testimony in the form of oral
or video histories of individuals who were involved with violence
awareness efforts. The bill would specify that it is the intent of
the Legislature that the measure be carried out in a manner that does
not result in new duties or programs being imposed on a school
district.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  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)  (1)    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, and the Holocaust, and contemporary
issues. 
   (2) Instruction in the area of social sciences may also include
instruction on violence awareness, which may include a component
drawn from personal testimony in the form of oral or video histories
of individuals who were involved in violence awareness efforts that
exemplify the economic and cultural effects of violence prevention
efforts within a city, the state, and the country. 
   (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.
  SEC. 2.  It is the intent of the Legislature that this measure be
carried out in a manner that does not result in new duties or
programs being imposed on school districts. In this regard, the
Legislature finds and declares that this measure does not mandate
costs to local agencies or school districts, and that materials used
to comply with the provisions of this bill shall be a part of
materials purchased in a school district's regular course of business
and purchasing cycles.