BILL NUMBER: AB 146 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
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 , 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. Instruction may include study of the unconstitutional
deportation to Mexico during the Great Depression of citizens and
lawful permanent residents of United States.
(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 State state and
Federal 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. Instruction may include study of the
unconstitutional deportation to Mexico during the Great Depression of
citizens and lawful permanent residents of United States.
(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, and
the Holocaust , and the unconstitutional deportation
to Mexico during the Great Depression of citizens and lawful
permanent residents of the United States .
(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, the unconstitutional deportation to Mexico during
the Great Depression of citizens and lawful permanent residents of
the United States, 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,
and the Holocaust , and the unconstitutional
deportation to Mexico during the Great Depression of citizens
and lawful permanent residents of the United States .
(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.
(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.