BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                                                                  SB 1380
                                                                  PageA

          SENATE THIRD READING
          SB 1380 (Wyland)
          As Amended  April 30, 2014
          Majority vote

           SENATE VOTE  :33-0  
           
           EDUCATION           7-0         APPROPRIATIONS      16-0        
           
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Ayes:|Buchanan, Olsen, Chávez,  |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow,           |
          |     |Gonzalez, Nazarian,       |     |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian  |
          |     |Weber, Williams           |     |Calderon, Campos, Eggman, |
          |     |                          |     |Gomez, Holden, Jones,     |
          |     |                          |     |Linder, Pan, Quirk,       |
          |     |                          |     |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner,    |
          |     |                          |     |Weber                     |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :  Encourages instruction in social science for grades 7  
          to 12, inclusive, to include the American military conflicts in  
          Afghanistan and Iraq, including Operation Desert Storm.   
          Further, this bill requires the Instructional Quality Commission  
          (IQC) to consider including the Armenian Genocide when the  
          history-social science curriculum framework is revised.   
          Specifically,  this bill  :

          1)Encourages instruction in the social sciences for grades 7  
            through 12, to include the American military conflicts in  
            Afghanistan and Iraq, including Operation Desert Storm and  
            encourages this instruction to include a component drawn from  
            personal testimony, in the form of oral or video histories of  
            military veterans who were involved in those conflicts.


          2)Encourages the California Department of Education (CDE) to  
            include in publications that provide examples of curriculum  
            resources for teachers, instruction in the origins of genocide  
            as a phenomenon and encourages content providers and teachers  
            to promote analyses of genocides, including the ethnic,  
            religious, and political causes. 


          3)Encourages incorporating survivor, rescuer, liberator, and  









                                                                  SB 1380
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            witness oral testimony when teaching about genocide, including  
            the Armenia, Cambodia, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides.


          4)Defines the term "oral testimony" to mean only those firsthand  
            accounts of significant historical events and provides  
            examples of the formats of such testimony.


          5)Requires the IQC to consider including the Armenian Genocide  
            when the history-social science curriculum framework is  
            revised.


          6)Makes technical and non-substantive changes to this section.


           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Permits instruction in the social sciences to include World  
            War II (WWII), the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. 


          2)Requires each Local Educational Agency (LEA) to adopt a course  
            of study in the social sciences for grades 7-12, inclusive,  
            that includes the study of the inhumanity of genocide,  
            slavery, and the Holocaust.


          3)Requires the CDE to incorporate examples of curriculum  
            resources in its publications that relate to genocide, and  
            specifically to the Holocaust.


          4)Encourages all state and local professional development  
            activities to provide teachers with content background and  
            resources to assist in teaching about genocide.


           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
          Committee, there are minor/absorbable costs to the CDE for the  
          IQC to consider including the Armenian Genocide when the  
          history-social science curriculum framework is revised.   
          According to the CDE the current draft of the history-social  









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          science framework already covers the Armenian genocide.  To the  
          extent major rewriting of the framework is needed, however, CDE  
          indicates they could need additional resources and an extended  
          timeline for adoption.  Additionally, there is General  
          Fund/Proposition 98 of 1988 cost pressure, in the hundreds of  
          thousands, to the extent school districts decide to purchase new  
          basic or supplemental instructional materials and develop or  
          incorporate additional content and resources into professional  
          development activities relative to instruction in the origins of  
          genocide and American military conflicts, as specified.  

           COMMENTS  :   

          Conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq

          The conflict in Afghanistan began in 2001 following the attacks  
          of September 11, 2001.  American and coalition troops remain in  
          Afghanistan today, though earlier this year President Barack  
          Obama formally ordered the Pentagon to make plans for a full  
          pullout of American troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.   
          The conflict in Iraq began with an invasion led by the United  
          States on March 20, 2003, in response to the allegation by the  
          United States and the United Kingdom that Iraq possessed weapons  
          of mass destruction that posed a threat to their security and  
          that of their coalition/regional allies.  The United States  
          withdrew the last of its military personnel in December, 2011.


          As of June 12, 2014, 8,251 American and coalition troops have  
          died and 52,032 have been wounded in the conflicts in  
          Afghanistan and Iraq.<1>  The estimated cost of these wars is  
          between $4 and $6 trillion, according a new study from Harvard  
          University's Kennedy School.  "A large share of those bills has  
          yet to be paid: the study finds that the U.S. has spent around  
          $2 trillion thus far? and that growing commitments to spending  
          on military personnel and veterans will drive much of the  
          spending in the decades to come."<2>

          The Armenian Genocide
          ---------------------------
          <1>  http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/war.casualties/  .  
          <2>  
           http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/03/28/the-total-iraq-and 
          -afghanistan-pricetag-over-4-trillion  .  









                                                                  SB 1380
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          The California Senate, in SB 424 (Poochigian), Chapter 9,  
          Statutes of 2005, recognized the Armenian Genocide as a series  
          of events occurring between 1915 and 1918 in which the rulers of  
          the Ottoman Turkish Empire systematically exterminated its  
          Armenian citizens.  During this time, the rulers conducted  
          massacres and forced labor of able bodied Armenian men.   
          Additionally, the Ottoman Turkish rulers forced Armenian women,  
          children, elderly, and infirm to march from their homeland to  
          the Syrian Desert.  Approximately 75% of those Armenian people  
          on these marches died.  Between 1 million and 1.5 million  
          Armenian people were killed during this three year period.  
           
           Course of Study


          Existing law requires each local board of education to adopt  
          a course of study for grades 1 through 6, and/or grades 7  
          through 12, based on the grades served by the LEA.  A course  
          of study is a scope and sequence of classes that are  
          designed to meet the specific topics identified in statute.   
          Existing law requires a local governing board to adopt  
          courses of study for grades 7 through 12 that includes  
          instruction in the following areas of study: English, social  
          science, foreign language, physical education, science,  
          mathematics, visual and performing arts, applied arts,  
          career technical education, and automobile driver education.  
           Within these instructional areas, the Legislature has  
          specified specific skills or concepts that must be included.  
           While not every class offered must be limited to the  
          statutory objectives, the LEA must structure its course  
          offerings so that all of these objectives areas are included  
          over the course of study offered to all students.  Existing  
          law also permits a local board of education to adopt  
          additional areas of instruction.  



          Currently, there are a large number of topics and concepts  
          that are encouraged by the Legislature for inclusion in the  
          social sciences course of study.  These include, in part:












                                                                  SB 1380
                                                                  PageE

            1)  An understanding of the wise use of natural resources;



            2)  The American role in WWII and personal testimony of  
              American soldiers who served in that war;



            3)  The role of Filipino Americans in WWII; and



            4)  The "Secret War" in Laos and the role of Southeast  
              Asians in this war as a part of instruction provided on  
              the Vietnam War.

           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Jill Rice / ED. / (916) 319-2087 


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