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 SB 1380 (Wyland) Page 1 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 SB 1380 (Wyland) Page 2 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.