BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de León, Chair


          SB 1380 (Wyland) - Instruction on Genocide
          
          Amended:  April 30, 2014        Policy Vote: Education 7-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: May 5, 2014       Consultant: Jacqueline  
          Wong-Hernandez
          
          This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the  
          Suspense File. 
          
          Bill Summary: SB 1380 requires the Instructional Quality  
          Commission (IQC) to consider including the Armenian genocide in  
          the history-social science framework, and encourages instruction  
          to include specific components.

          Fiscal Impact: 
              History-social science framework: No new costs for the IQC,  
              because the current (2009) draft of the history-social  
              science framework already covers the Armenian genocide.
              "Encouraging" instruction: Minor costs pressure on schools  
              to teach specific additional topics, and to incorporate oral  
              histories into their instruction, to the extent they are not  
              already doing so. 

          Background: Academic content standards define the knowledge,  
          concepts and skills that pupils should learn at each grade  
          level. Curricular frameworks serve as a blueprint for how to  
          implement the standards and provide guidance to publishers,  
          along with evaluation criteria, for the development of  
          instructional materials. The processes for the revision of  
          curricular frameworks and adoption of instructional materials  
          are suspended until the 2015-16 school year.  (Education Code §  
          60200.7)

          The history-social science framework was last adopted in 2005.  
          The processes for reviewing frameworks and adopting  
          instructional materials have been suspended since July 2009, due  
          to budget constraints. At the time of the suspension, a review  
          of the history-social science framework was nearly complete.  
          Since the suspension, the CDE has ceased work on the review and  
          update. The State Board of Education (SBE) is specifically  
          prohibited from reviewing frameworks and adopting instructional  








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          materials until the 2015-16 school year. (EC § 60200.7 and §  
          60200.8)

          The role of the IQC is to recommend curriculum frameworks to the  
          SBE, develop criteria for evaluating instructional materials,  
          study, evaluate and recommend to the SBE instructional materials  
          for adoption, and make recommendations to the SBE regarding the  
          use of frameworks and model curriculum and alignment with the  
          academic content standards.   (EC § 60204)

          Proposed Law: This bill requires the IQC, when the  
          history-social science framework is revised, to consider  
          including the Armenian Genocide in the history-social science  
          framework.

          This bill states that the Legislature encourages instruction in  
          the origins of genocide as a phenomenon throughout history that  
          continues to the present day, and other specified topics related  
          to analyzing the occurrence of genocide. This bill further  
          encourages the incorporation of oral testimony into the teaching  
          of human rights, and adds genocide, including but not limited to  
          the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides, to the  
          teaching of human rights. It also encourages instruction in  
          social sciences in grades 7-12 to include instruction on the  
          American military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, including  
          Operation Desert Storm, as specified.

          Related Legislation: AB 659 (Nazarian) encourages the CDE to  
          include the Armenian Genocide in its published curriculum  
          resources, encourages the incorporation of oral testimony when  
          teaching specific instances of genocide into existing  
          curriculum, encourages including the Armenian Genocide into  
          state and local professional development activities and in the  
          next revision of the history-social science curriculum  
          framework. AB 659 is pending referral in the Senate.

          SB 234 (Wyland) 2009 would have required the Curriculum  
          Commission (now the IQC) to consider an oral history component  
          specifically related to genocides, including but not limited to,  
          the Darfur, Rwandan, Cambodian, Jewish Holocaust, or Armenian  
          genocides in the history-social science Framework. That bill was  
          held under submission in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

          SR 31 (Wyland) 2009 resolved that schools in California would be  








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          encouraged to include an oral history of genocides, including,  
          but not necessarily limited to, the Darfur, Rwandan, Cambodian,  
          Jewish Holocaust, and Armenian genocides, in the history-social  
          science curriculum component. That resolution died in the Senate  
          Rules Committee.

          AB 1021 (Yee) 2003 would have required that the Armenian  
          Genocide be considered in the next cycle in which the  
          history-social science curriculum framework and its accompanying  
          instructional materials were adopted. That bill was held under  
          submission in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

          Staff Comments: The history-social science framework was last  
          adopted in 2005. The processes for reviewing frameworks and  
          adopting instructional materials have been suspended since July  
          2009, due to budget constraints. At the time of the suspension,  
          a review of the history-social science framework was nearly  
          complete. Since the suspension, the CDE has ceased work on the  
          review and update. According to the CDE, information on the  
          Armenian genocide has already been considered and is already  
          included in the 2009 draft of the history-social science  
          framework, which will be completed once the suspension is  
          lifted. 
          
          Encouraging instruction in the origins of genocide as a  
          phenomenon throughout history that continues to the present day,  
          and other specified topics related to analyzing the occurrence  
          and of genocide does not have any force of law. Stating  
          legislative encouragement of instruction on the American  
          military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, as specified, also  
          does not have force of law. This bill creates minor cost  
          pressure for schools to include that instruction, to the extent  
          that they are concerned with legislative encouragement.