BILL ANALYSIS �
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
ACR 140 (Weber)
As Amended August 20, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |78-0 |(May 15, 2014) |SENATE: |33-0 |(August 25, |
| | | | | |2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: RLS.
SUMMARY : Commemorates the 60th anniversary of the historic
Brown v. Board of Education (1954) 347 U.S. 483 decision as one
of the landmark United States Supreme Court decisions of the
20th Century. Specifically, this resolution makes the following
legislative findings:
1)Identifies education as essential to an informed citizenry,
the foundation for democracy, and the passport of opportunity
that needs to be equally available for all.
2)Recognizes access to a high-quality education as the gateway
to opportunity, America's promise to all, and a fundamental
civil right under the American form of government for every
citizen regardless of race, religion, ethnic background, or
economic circumstance.
3)Recognizes the 1896, United States Supreme Court ruling in
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) 163 U.S. 537 that the segregation of
the races is legal as long as facilities are "separate but
equal."
4)Recognizes the decision issued on May 17, 1954, by the United
States Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
(1954) 347 U.S. 483 (Brown v. Board of Education) in which the
Court unanimously overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine
of law.
5)Notes that the attorney arguing Brown v. Board of Education in
front of the Supreme Court on behalf of the NAACP, was
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Thurgood Marshall, who eventually became the first African
American United States Supreme Court Justice. In his
arguments, Marshall argued that segregated schools, many of
which were substandard, were psychologically damaging to black
children, causing low self-esteem and low self-worth,
inherently depriving these children of equal protection under
the law guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the United States
Constitution, and that under that amendment states had no
legally valid reason to segregate and "use race as a factor in
affording educational opportunities to its citizens.
6)Recognizes decision in Brown v. Board of Education as the
legal impetus to school desegregation throughout the United
States, including the "Little Rock Nine," a group of nine
black high school students who were the first black students
to attend the all-white Little Rock High School in Arkansas.
7)Identifies the activism generated to implement the Brown v.
Board of Education decision as a catalyst to the Civil Rights
Movement for equality which gained momentum in the 1960s,
leading to further desegregation of public facilities and
which continues today.
The Senate amendments :
1)Finds that the adopted history-social science standards and
curriculum framework include Brown v. Board of Education and
that the California Department of Education (CDE) has ensured
its presence in state-adopted instructional materials.
2)Deletes the resolution urging the CDE to provide model
instructional materials to schools that encourage schools to
observe the Brown v. Board of Education decision with
appropriate educational activities that help pupils understand
the importance of tolerance, humanity, and equality of
opportunity.
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3)Make technical and non-substantive changes to this measure.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, there will be $150,000 in cost pressure (General
Fund) for the CDE to create new model instructional materials
that meet the specifications of this resolution. However,
amendments taken after the Senate Appropriations Committee's
analysis remove this cost pressure.
COMMENTS : The Senate amendments remove the requirement that the
CDE provide model instructional materials to schools.
Currently, the Web site of the CDE includes a sample lesson for
grades K-3 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Brown v.
Board of Education decision.
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/hs/im/brownvboard46.asp. Additionally,
the history-social science content standards and corresponding
frameworks, adopted by the State Board of Education, include the
following references to this case:
1)Standard 11.10.2 Examine and analyze the key events, policies,
and court cases in the evolution of civil rights, including
Dred Scott v. Sandford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of
Education, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke,
and California Proposition 209. The history-social science
draft framework, currently scheduled to be heard by the State
Board of Education (SBE) in the Fall of 2014, reference the
decision in its discussion Standard 11.10.2 by saying, in
part, "[t]he Brown decision and resistance to it by local and
state governments stimulated a generation of political and
social activism led by African Americans pursuing their civil
rights. "
2)Standard 12.5.4 Explain the controversies that have resulted
over changing interpretations of civil rights, including those
in Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Miranda v.
Arizona, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke,
Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena, and United States v.
Virginia (VMI). The history-social science draft framework,
currently scheduled to be heard by the SBE in the Fall of
2014, reference the decision in its discussion Standard 12.5.4
by saying, in part, "[i]n examining the evolution of civil
rights under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth
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Amendment, students can draw upon their knowledge of the Civil
War and the passage of the Reconstruction-era amendments.
Students may examine the changing interpretation of civil
rights law from the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 to the
Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954."
Analysis Prepared by : Jill Rice / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN:
0005178