California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 146

Introduced by Assembly Member Cristina Garcia

January 13, 2015

An act to amend Sections 51210, 51220, and 51226.3 of the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 146, as introduced, Cristina Garcia. Pupil instruction: social sciences.

Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 1 to 6, inclusive, and 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, and contemporary issues.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education to incorporate into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources materials 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, and the Holocaust. Existing law states that the Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony into the teaching of human rights, the Holocaust, and genocide, as specified, and encourages professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist in teaching about civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, the Armenian Genocide, and the Holocaust.

This bill would add the unconstitutional deportation to Mexico during the Great Depression of citizens and lawful permanent residents of the United States to the instruction that may be included in grades 1 to 6, inclusive, and that may be included in social sciences in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, and to the material that the department is required to incorporate into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources.

The bill would encourage the incorporation of survivor and witness testimony into the teaching of the unconstitutional deportation to Mexico during the Great Depression of citizens and lawful permanent residents of the United States, and would encourage professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist in teaching about that deportation. The bill would require the State Board of Education to ensure that the study of that deportation be included when the curriculum frameworks for history/social science are revised on or after January 1, 2016.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

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

SECTION 1.  

Section 51210 of the Education Code is amended
to read:

51210.  

The adopted course of study for grades 1 to 6, inclusive,
shall include instruction, beginning in grade 1 and continuing
through grade 6, in the following areas of study:

(a) English, including knowledge of, and appreciation for
literature begin insert , end insert and the language, as well as the skills of speaking,
reading, listening, spelling, handwriting, and composition.

(b) Mathematics, including concepts, operational skills, and
problem solving.

(c) 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; 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; contemporary issues;
and the wise use of natural resources. begin insert Instruction may include
study of the unconstitutional deportation to Mexico during the
Great Depression of citizens and lawful permanent residents of
United States. end insert

(d) Science, including the biological and physical aspects, with
emphasis on the processes of experimental inquiry and on the place
of humans in ecological systems.

(e) Visual and performing arts, including instruction in the
subjects of dance, music, theatre, and visual arts, aimed at the
development of aesthetic appreciation and the skills of creative
expression.

(f) Health, including instruction in the principles and practices
of individual, family, and community health.

(g) Physical education, with emphasis upon the physical
activities for the pupils that may be conducive to health and vigor
of body and mind, for a total period of time of not less than 200
minutes each 10 schooldays, exclusive of recesses and the lunch
period.

(h) Other studies that may be prescribed by the governing board.

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) (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 begin delete State end delete begin insert state end insert and begin delete Federal end delete begin insert federal end insert 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. begin insert Instruction may include study of the
unconstitutional deportation to Mexico during the Great
Depression of citizens and lawful permanent residents of United
States. end insert

(2) For purposes of this subdivision, genocide may include the
Armenian Genocide. The “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.

(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. 3.  

Section 51226.3 of the Education Code is amended to
read:

51226.3.  

(a) (1) The department shall 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
civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, begin delete and end delete the
Holocaust begin insert , and the unconstitutional deportation to Mexico during
the Great Depression of citizens and lawful permanent residents
of the United States end insert .

(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, begin insert the unconstitutional deportation to Mexico during
the Great Depression of citizens and lawful permanent residents
of the United States, end insert 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, begin delete and end delete
the Holocaust begin insert , and the unconstitutional deportation to Mexico
during the Great Depression of citizens and lawful permanent
residents of the United States end insert .

(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 insert

(i) When the state board revises and adopts the curriculum
framework for history/social science on or after January 1, 2016,
the state board shall provide for the inclusion, in that curriculum
framework, evaluation criteria, and accompanying instructional
materials, of instruction on the unconstitutional deportation to
Mexico during the Great Depression of citizens and lawful
permanent residents of the United States.

end insert