BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 659
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Date of Hearing: January 15, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 659 (Nazarian) - As Amended: January 8, 2014
SUBJECT : Pupil Instruction: Genocide
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to include the Armenian Genocide in its published curriculum
resources and encourages the incorporation of specific instances
of genocide into existing curriculum, professional development
activities, and in the next revision of the history/social
science curriculum framework. Specifically, this bill :
1) Requires the CDE to include examples of curriculum
resources related to the Armenian Genocide in its
publications (e.g. curriculum frameworks and recommended
literature lists).
2) Encourages incorporating survivor, rescuer, liberator,
and witness oral testimony when teaching about genocide,
including but not limited to the Armenian, Cambodian,
Darfur, and Rwandan genocides.
3) Defines the term "oral testimony" to mean only those
firsthand accounts of significant historical events and
provides examples of the formats of such testimony.
4) Encourages all state and local professional development
activities to provide teachers with content background and
resources to assist in teaching the Armenian Genocide.
5) Requires the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) to
consider including the Armenian Genocide when the
history/social science curriculum framework is revised.
6) Makes technical and non-substantive changes to this
section.
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EXISTING LAW
1) Requires each Local Educational Agency (LEA) to adopt a
course of study in the social sciences for grades seven
through twelve that includes the study of the inhumanity of
genocide.
2) Requires the CDE to incorporate examples of curriculum
resources in its publications that relate to genocide, and
specifically to the Holocaust.
3) Encourages all state and local professional development
activities to provide teachers with content background and
resources to assist in teaching about genocide.
4) Delays the adoption of content standards and curriculum
frameworks until July 1, 2015.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : This bill speaks to a number of specific instances
of genocide in recent history. As way of background, it is worth
providing a bit of context for each instance:
The Armenian Genocide
The California Senate, in SB 424 (Poochigian), Chapter 9,
Statutes of 2005, recognized the Armenian Genocide as a
series of events occurring between 1915 and 1918 in which
the rulers of the Ottoman Turkish Empire systematically
exterminated its Armenian citizens. During this time, the
rulers conducted massacres and forced labor of able bodied
Armenian men. Additionally, the Ottoman Turkish rulers
forced Armenian women, children, elderly, and infirm to
march from their homeland to the Syrian Desert.
Approximately 75% of those Armenian people on these marches
died. Between 1 million and 1.5 million Armenian people
were killed during this three year period.
The Genocide in Darfur
In 2003, Darfur, in the African Republic of Sudan, erupted
in civil war and the Sudanese government supported the
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militia groups known as the Janjaweed. The Janjaweed began
to systematically execute the people of Darfur through
displacement, starvation, murder, torture, and rape. While
the civil war officially came to an end in 2005, the
conflict continues. More than 2 million people have been
killed, with millions more displaced. In 2004, the United
States Secretary of State Colin Powell, identified these
attacks as genocide, though the International Security
Council has disagreed and issued warrants against the
former Sudanese and Janjaweed leaders for crimes against
humanity, but refused to issue warrants for the charge of
genocide.
The Genocide in Rwanda
The East-African state of Rwanda has been plagued by civil
conflict between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi
people since 1959. In 1994, the Hutus engaged in a mass
slaughter of the Tutsis during a 100 day period. Touted as
an effort to re-enslave the Tutsi people, the Hutus
systematically massacred people in their homes, schools,
churches, and villages. Estimates of the death toll range
from 500,000 to nearly 1.1 million Tutsi people.
The Genocide in Cambodia
In 1975, the Khmer Rouge took control over the war-ravaged
country of Cambodia under the belief that the Cambodian
people had been tainted by their exposure to the capitalist
ideas of the West during the Vietnam War. In a mass
slaughter, educated persons, Christians, Buddhists, and
Muslims were specifically targeted, though no one was safe.
The Khmer Rouge executed more than 1.7 million people
before they were ousted by the Communist Vietnamese
government in 1979.
Content Standards and Curriculum Frameworks . California
curriculum is based on state-adopted content standards. The
curriculum frameworks are guidelines for implementing the
standards that are developed by the IQC (also referenced in
statute as the "commission") and approved by the State Board of
Education (SBE). The IQC is an 18-member commission consisting
of one member of the Assembly, one member of the Senate, and 16
public members. At least seven of the public members must have
taught, written, or lectured on the subject areas required for
graduation. The history/social science standards were developed
in 1998 and the history/social science curriculum framework was
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last revised in 2005. A review and update of this framework was
underway and nearly complete when the state suspended the
process on July 28, 2009 due to fiscal constraints. The SBE is
specifically prohibited from reviewing frameworks and adopting
instructional materials until the 2015-16 school year. SB 1540
(Hancock), Chapter 288, Statutes of 2012, authorizes the SBE to
consider the adoption of a revised curriculum framework and
evaluation criteria for instructional materials in
history/social science, but prohibits the CDE from conducting
any work until after CDE has completed work related to the
development of curriculum frameworks for the common core content
standards. To date, the SBE adopted a mathematics curriculum
framework at its November, 2013 meeting and a English language
arts framework is scheduled for adoption at the SBE's July 2014
meeting.
Considerations for the Committee. The Committee may wish to
consider the extent to which content should be developed through
statutory incorporation versus through this IQC process. The
IQC members have subject matter expertise and may be better
equipped to balance competing demands for limited instructional
time. To this end, the committee staff recommends an amendment
to change the language that requires the CDE to incorporate
examples of the Armenian Genocide into existing publications to
language that encourages the CDE to incorporate examples of the
Armenian Genocide.
The Committee may also wish to consider the extent to which the
provisions of this bill are met though existing law and
practice. The history/social science content standards include
a discussion of the Ottoman government's actions against its
Armenian citizens in the context of the causes and course of
World War I. Additionally, the draft history/social science
curriculum framework of 2009 includes a discussion of the
Armenian genocide by noting "Armenians were expelled from
Ottoman Turkey and forcefully marched to the Middle Easter
desert. The Young Turk government created a systematic program
to exterminate the Armenians as a people, which has come to be
known as the Armenian Genocide." Finally, the CDE publishes a
searchable database of books titled Recommended Literature:
Prekindergarten Through Grade Twelve. According to the CDE's
website, this list is designed for "children and teens which
helps students, teachers, and families find books that
entertain, inform, and explore new ideas and experiences." This
list was last revised in 2012 and includes at least four titles
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addressing the Armenian Genocide with one of these being a
first-hand account.
Finally, the Committee may wish to consider that the CDE already
publishes a model curriculum on human rights and genocide. This
curriculum was first published by the CDE in 1988 and serves as
a support document to the history/social science curriculum
framework. It covers, by grade levels, various curriculum
strands in the areas of human rights and genocide. The model
curriculum highlights human rights atrocities in Armenia, the
Ukraine, and Europe under the Nazis, as well as totalitarian
violations in Cambodia, Argentina, and South Africa. This model
curriculum was revised in 2000 and includes a lengthy discussion
of the Armenian Genocide.
Prior Related Legislation . SB 234 (Wyland) (2009), which died
in Assembly Appropriations, required the Curriculum Commission
to consider an oral history component specifically related to
genocides, including but not limited to, the Darfur, Rwandan,
Cambodian, Jewish Holocaust, or Armenian genocides in the
history/social science curriculum.
SR 31 (Wyland) (2009), which died in Senate Rules, resolved that
schools in California are encouraged to include an oral history
of genocides, including, but not necessarily limited to, the
Darfur, Rwandan, Cambodian, Jewish Holocaust, and Armenian
genocides, in the history/social science curriculum component.
SB 424 (Poochigian), Chapter 9, Statutes of 2005, establishes
April 24 of each year as the "California Day of Remembrance of
the Armenian Genocide" and the period beginning on the Sunday
before that day through the following Sunday as the days of
remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.
ACR 116 (Yee), Chapter 114, Statutes of 2004, urges the SBE to
take action at the next instructional materials primary adoption
cycle to ensure that history/social science textbooks used in
California schools in grade 10 fairly and accurately portray
human rights violations and other historical atrocities in a
comprehensive manner.
SJR 1 (Poochigian), Chapter 18, Statutes of 2003, designates
April 24, 2003, as the "California Day of Remembrance of the
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Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923" and requests Congress to
likewise act to commemorate the Armenian Genocide.
AB 1021 (Yee) (2003), requires that the Armenian Genocide be
considered in the next cycle in which the history/social science
curriculum framework and its accompanying instructional
materials are adopted. This bill died in Assembly
Appropriations.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Armenian National Committee of America - Western Region
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Jill Rice / ED. / (916) 319-2087