BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2864
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Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 2864
(Chau) - As Introduced February 19, 2016
SUBJECT: Pupil instruction: Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882:
Geary Act of 1892
SUMMARY: Requires that the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the
Geary Act of 1892, and other laws be considered in the next
cycle in which the history-social science curriculum framework
and its accompanying instructional materials are adopted.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires that the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Geary Act
of 1892, and the other laws identified below be considered in
the next cycle in which the history-social science curriculum
framework and its accompanying instructional materials are
adopted.
2)Encourages all state and local professional development
activities to provide teachers with content background and
resources to assist them in teaching about the Chinese
Exclusion Act of 1882 as the first major law to single out and
forbid a specific ethnic group, the Chinese, from immigrating
to, and becoming naturalized citizens of, the United States,
and the Geary Act of 1892, which extended the prohibitions of
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the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and imposed new and onerous
requirements on Chinese immigrants.
3)Encourages all state and local professional development
activities to provide teachers with content background and
resources to assist them in teaching about additional laws
that were enacted to perpetuate the discrimination against,
and unequal treatment of, Chinese and other minority groups,
including:
a) numerous antimiscegenation laws that prohibited marriage
between white women and men of minority background or
ancestry
b) the Alien Land Law of 1913, which prohibited "aliens
ineligible for citizenship" from owning land or property
c) the Cable Act of 1922, which terminated the United
States citizenship of any woman who married an alien
ineligible for United States citizenship
d) the Immigration Act of 1924, which limited the number of
immigrants who could be admitted from any country, and
prohibited the immigration of all Asians.
EXISTING LAW:
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1)Establishes the Instructional Quality Commission (formerly
called the Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials
Commission) as an advisory body to the State Board of
Education (SBE) on matters related to curriculum,
instructional materials, and content standards.
2)Requires the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) to
consider incorporating into the history-social science
framework content on specific historical events, including the
Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides and the
Great Irish Famine of 1845-1850.
3)Encourages the California Department of Education (CDE) to
incorporate into publications that provide examples of
curriculum resources, age-appropriate materials on the
Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides.
4)Encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator,
and witness oral testimony into the teaching of human rights,
the Holocaust, and genocide.
5)Encourages 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, and the Holocaust.
6)Requires the SBE to consider including content on the
deportation of citizens and lawful permanent residents of the
U.S. to Mexico during the Great Depression and numerous other
events in the next revision of the history-social science
framework and related materials.
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FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
Need for the bill. According to the author, "Asian Americans
have played a significant role in the history of California and
the United States. They have contributed to America and
California as builders of the Transcontinental Railroad and
other important infrastructure, as farmers, as inventors, as
entrepreneurs, as scholars, as artists, as soldiers, and as
civic leaders. However, the history of Asian Americans is also
filled with hardship, discrimination, and unequal treatment.
Education plays an important role in developing and creating an
active and responsible citizen. For this reason, it is important
to teach students a curriculum that allows them to study the
origins and implications of discrimination in any society in
order to assist in developing an acceptance of diversity, as
well as full respect for human rights.
On November 20, 2015, the IQC released the draft History-Social
Science Framework for California Public Schools for its second
review, which includes some references to the Chinese Exclusion
Act in specific chapters and course curriculum.
AB 2864 will ensure that the IQC considers including the Chinese
Exclusion Act of 1882 and other discriminatory laws aimed at
Asian Americans when adopting History and Social Science
Curriculum during the next cycle, so that their history and
contributions are taught to students throughout California."
Curriculum, standards, frameworks, and model curricula.
California's public school curriculum is based on content
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standards in various subjects, including English-Language Arts,
Mathematics, Science, History-Social Science, Physical
Education, English Language Development, Career Technical
Education, Health Education, World Languages, and Visual and
Performing Arts. These standards are developed by the IQC
through a public process, and are adopted by the SBE.
These standards form the basis of California's curriculum
frameworks. These documents guide the implementation of these
standards, and are used to establish criteria for the evaluation
of instructional materials for state adoption for grades
kindergarten through grade eight. They also guide district
selection of instructional materials for grades nine through
twelve.
In addition to developing standards in the above subject areas,
the SPI is sometimes directed by law to develop model curricula
on different topics, such as those on the life of Cesar Chavez,
and on human rights and genocide.
Draft history-social science framework revision already includes
references to these events. The draft revision to the
History-Social Science Framework released in September, 2014
includes some references to this event at different grade
levels.
In the 4th grade chapter, the draft framework states:
The completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 linked
California with the rest of the nation. With the help of
topographic maps and Mary Anne Fraser's Ten Mile Day, students
can follow the Chinese workers who forged eastward from
Sacramento through the towering Sierra Nevada Mountains,
digging tunnels and building bridges with daring skill. They
then meet the "sledge and shovel army" of Irish workers who
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laid the tracks westward across the Great Plains?Students
analyze contributions of Chinese and Japanese laborers in the
building of early California's mining, agricultural and
industrial economy and consider the impact of various
anti-Asian exclusion movements. Hostilities toward the large
Chinese labor force in California grew during the 1870s
leading to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and future laws
to segregate Asian Americans and regulate and further restrict
Asian immigration.
In the 8th grade chapter, the draft framework states:
Eventually the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) and the
Immigration Act of 1917 greatly limited Asian entry to the
United States. California built the immigration station at
Angel Island to implement restrictions on Asian admissions.
Despite the government's eventual tightening of restrictions
on immigration in the second decade of the twentieth century,
immigrants played an essential role in developing the country
as both an agricultural and industrial giant.
History-social science framework adoption delayed. The
History-Social Science standards currently in use were adopted
in 1998, and the most recent framework was published in 2005.
The Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission
(now the IQC) began revising the History-Social Science
Framework in January of 2008. A significant amount of the
process had been completed (focus groups, selection of
evaluation criteria committee members, five drafting meetings)
when in 2009 the state's fiscal emergency halted all work on
instructional materials adoptions and framework revisions until
the 2013-14 school year AB 4 X2 (Evans) Chapter 2, Statutes of
2009. That suspension was later extended until the 2015-16
school year by SB 70 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 7, Statutes
of 2011.
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The IQC began work again on the revision in July, 2014, and
released the draft History-Social Science framework for its
first field review in September, 2014. The draft generated
extensive public comment (nearly 700 comments). The IQC
determined that more subject matter expertise was needed certain
areas (including some mandated for inclusion by legislation),
and submitted a budget request for $124,000 to hire experts
through an interagency agreement. The IQC held a second field
review from November, 2015 through February, 2016.
These events have caused significant delays in the production of
the revised framework. Originally scheduled for adoption in
May, 2015, this framework is now set to be recommended to the
SBE by May 2016, with final publication in winter, 2016.
Recommended amendments. Staff recommends that this bill be
amended to narrow its scope to two specific historical events
(the Chinese Exclusion Act and the contributions of Chinese
Americans to the transcontinental railroad), in order to make it
consistent with other legislation approved by this Committee.
Related legislation. AB 146 (Christina Garcia), Chapter 392,
Statutes of 2015, requires the SBE to consider including
instruction on the unconstitutional deportation to Mexico during
the Great Depression in the history-social science framework.
AB 2546 (Calderon) of this Session would require the IQC, when
the history-social science curriculum framework is revised after
January 1, 2017, to consider including information on financial
literacy. This bill is pending in this Committee.
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SB 695 (De León), Chapter 424, Statutes of 2015, requires the
Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) to consider adding
content to the health curriculum framework for grades 9-12 on
sexual harassment and violence, including the affirmative
consent standard, and requires school districts which require a
health course for graduation to include this content.
Prior legislation. AB 659 (Nazarian) of the 2013-14 Session
would have encouraged the CDE to include the Armenian Genocide
in its published curriculum resources, encouraged the
incorporation oral testimony when teaching specific instances of
genocide into existing curriculum, and encouraged including the
Armenian Genocide into state and local professional development
activities and in the next revision of the history/social
science curriculum framework. This bill was held in the Senate
Education Committee.
AB 1616 (Buchanan) of the 2013-14 Session would have required
the IQC, when revising the history-social science framework, to
include specified civics content in all history and social
science courses and grade levels, and require the IQC, whenever
the history-social science framework is revised, to receive
input from civics education experts for the purpose of
integrating civics learning content, concepts, and skills, at
all appropriate grade levels. This bill was held in the
Assembly Education Committee.
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AB 1912 (Holden), Chapter 286, Statutes of 2014, requires
require the IQC, during the next revision of the history-social
science curriculum framework, to consider including, and
recommending for adoption by the SBE, instruction on the
election of President Barack Obama and the significance of the
United States electing its first African American President, as
appropriate.
SB 897 (Steinberg), Chapter 480, Statutes of 2014, requires the
IQC, whenever it revises the history-social science framework
to, among other things, receive input from civics education
experts for purposes of integrating civics learning content,
concepts, and skills, at all appropriate grade levels, with
certain standards, and ensure that voter education information
is included in the American government and civics curriculum at
the high school level.
SB 1165 (Mitchell), Chapter 713, Statutes of 2014, requires the
IQC to consider including sexual abuse and sex trafficking
prevention education in the health framework, and permits a
school district to provide sexual abuse and sex trafficking
prevention education, as specified.
SB 1380 (Wyland), Chapter 441, Statutes of 2014, requires the
IQC to consider including the Armenian Genocide in the
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history-social science framework, and encourages instruction to
include specific components.
AB 123 (Bonta), Chapter 476, Statutes of 2013, requires the SBE
to ensure that the existing state curriculum, framework and
textbook evaluation criteria on Cesar Chavez and the history of
the farm labor movement in the United States include information
on the role of immigrants, including Filipino Americans, in that
movement.
AB 137 (Buchanan), Chapter 225, Statutes of 2013, amends the
requirement that American government and civics be included in
the framework in all history social science courses, as
appropriate, and encourages the application of this content to
promote civic engagement.
AB 166 (Hernández) of the 2013-14 Session would have required
the instruction in economics provided in grades 7 through 12 to
include instruction related to personal finances.
SB 330 (Padilla), Chapter, Statutes of 2013, requires, when the
health framework is next revised, the IQC to consider developing
and recommending to the SBE a distinct category on mental health
instruction to educate pupils about all aspects of mental
health.
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SB 552 (Calderon), Chapter 497, Statutes of 2013, provides that
instruction in the area of social sciences may include
instruction on violence awareness, which may include a component
drawn from personal testimony in the form of oral or video
histories of individuals who were involved with violence
awareness efforts.
AB 424 (Donnelly), Chapter 483, Statutes of 2013, encourages the
IQC to include the development of democracy, the history of the
development of the United States Constitution, and specified
historical documents in the history-social science framework.
AB 700 (Gomez), Chapter 483, Statutes of 2013, requires the IQC
to include in instruction in the social sciences a voter
education component providing instruction in how to register and
cast votes in local, state, and federal elections, and how to
use the voter information pamphlet and other materials to become
an informed voter.
SB 521 (Wyland) of the 2013-14 Session would have required the
history-social science framework, when revised, to update the
courses in American government and civics to include the
teaching of the comparative differences between the rights of
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the citizens in America and those in other countries, and the
connection of civics and American government to western
civilizations. This bill was held in the Senate Education
Committee.
SB 993 (De León), Chapter 211, Statutes of 2012, authorizes
instruction in social science for grades 7-12 to include
information about the Bracero program.
AB 1967 (Perez), Chapter 582, Statutes of 2012, requires the IQC
and the SBE to ensure the health and science frameworks, adopted
in the course of the next submission cycle, include the subject
of organ procurement and tissue donation.
AB 199 (Ma and Cook), Chapter 607, Statutes of 2011, encourages
social studies instruction to include instruction on the role
and contributions of Filipino Americans in the U.S. army in
World War II.
SB 48 (Leno), Chapter 81, Statutes of 2011, requires instruction
in social science to include the role and contributions of
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
SIA Tech
Opposition
None received
Analysis Prepared by:Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087