BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | ACR 144|
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CONSENT
Bill No: ACR 144
Author: Mullin (D)
Introduced:2/24/16
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/8/16
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Huff, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan,
Vidak
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/25/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Public schools: character education
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This resolution urges the State Board of Education,
county offices of education, and local school governing bodies
to increase emphasis on character, citizenship, ethics, and the
humane treatment of living creatures in order to promote a
humane and compassionate society.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Requires that each teacher endeavor to impress upon the minds
of the students the principles of morality, truth, justice,
patriotism, and a true comprehension of the rights, duties,
ACR 144
Page 2
and dignity of American citizenship, and the meaning of
equality and human dignity, including the promotion of
harmonious relations, kindness toward domestic pets and the
humane treatment of living creatures, to teach them to avoid
idleness, profanity, and falsehood, and to instruct them in
manners and morals and the principles of a free government.
(Education Code § 233.5)
2)Encourages each teacher to create and foster an environment
that encourages students to realize their full potential and
that is free from discriminatory attitudes, practices, events,
or activities, in order to prevent acts of hate violence. (EC
§ 233.5)
This resolution urges the State Board of Education (SBE), county
offices of education, and local school governing bodies to
increase emphasis on character, citizenship, ethics, and the
humane treatment of living creatures in order to promote a
humane and compassionate society. Specifically, this resolution:
1)Makes findings as to the legislative interest in and history
of character education and the importance of character
education to our society and economy, and the links between
character, good citizenship, ethics, good leadership, academic
achievement and school climate.
2)Resolves that the Legislature urges the SBE, county offices of
education, and local school governing bodies to increase
emphasis on character, citizenship, ethics, and the humane
treatment of living creatures in order to promote a humane and
compassionate society.
3)Resolves that the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the SBE, the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, boards of education and administrators of county
offices and school districts and to the author for
distribution.
ACR 144
Page 3
Comments
1)Need for this resolution. According to the author, character
education programs in schools have a positive effect on
children. Character education programs in schools help
promote common values and behaviors, such as respect,
responsibility, justice, leadership, and teamwork. The author
emphasizes, character education programs that incorporate the
humane treatment of animals into their education curriculum
also encourage good character, citizenships, and ethics.
This resolution promotes the importance of character education
in public schools.
2)Character education in public schools. Current law requires
each teacher to impress upon pupils the principals of
morality, truth, justice, patriotism, and a comprehension of
the rights, duties and dignity of American citizenship and
human dignity, including the promotion of harmonious
relations, kindness toward domestic pets and the humane
treatment of living creatures. The California Department of
Education provides various resources for incorporating
character education into a standards-based educational system
and further encourages schools to recognize October as
Character Education Month.
Related/Prior Legislation
HR 28 (Dababneh, 2016) encourages the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to ensure the incorporation of humane education in
the core curriculum, and resolves that compliance with existing
law regarding humane education should include educating students
on principles of kindness and respect for animals. The
resolution was adopted by the Assembly.
ACR 144
Page 4
ACR 55 (Mullin, Chapter 145, Statutes of 2008) almost identical
to this resolution, encouraged the SBE, county offices of
education, and local school governing bodies to evaluate and
increase their emphasis on character, citizenship, and ethics
education.
SB 811 (O'Connell, 2002) would have required that the promotion
of compassion and respect for both humans and animals be
considered in the next cycle in which the science, and
history/social science curricula frameworks and the accompanying
instructional materials are adopted. The bill was held in the
Assembly.
AB 2028 (Correa, 2000) required the SBE to survey and report
findings on character education programs implemented by school
districts and county offices by January 1, 2002. The bill was
held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified 6/21/16)
City of Palo Alto
Palo Alto Humane Society
OPPOSITION: (Verified 6/21/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/25/16
ACR 144
Page 5
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,
Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,
McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,
O'Donnell, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas,
Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chang, Olsen, Williams
Prepared by:Olgalilia Ramirez / ED. / (916) 651-4105
6/22/16 15:15:10
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