Senate Bill No. 1296

Introduced by Senator Liu

February 19, 2016

An act to amend Section 51220 of the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1296, as introduced, Liu. Pupil instruction: financial literacy.

Existing law requires a school district, as part of its adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer courses in specified areas of study, including, among others, applied arts, which includes instruction in the areas of consumer and homemaking education, industrial arts, general business education, or general agriculture.

This bill would require “consumer and homemaking education” to include financial literacy instruction on subjects including, but not limited to, student loans, credit cards, and investment and retirement accounts.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

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.

(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)  begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert Applied arts, including instruction in the areas of
consumer and homemaking education, industrial arts, general
business education, or general agriculture.

begin insert

(2) For purposes of this subdivision, “consumer and
homemaking education” shall include financial literacy instruction
on subjects including, but not limited to, student loans, credit cards,
and investment and retirement accounts.

end insert

(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.