BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 659
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Date of Hearing: January 23, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 659 (Nazarian) - As Amended: January 16, 2014
Policy Committee: EducationVote:7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill encourages the State Department of Education (SDE) to
incorporate the Armenian Genocide in curriculum resources,
teaching and professional development activities. Specifically,
this bill:
1) Encourages the SDE 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 oral witness testimony when teaching the Armenian,
Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides.
3) Encourages all state and local professional development
activities to provide teachers with content background and
resources to assist in teaching the Armenian Genocide.
4) Requires the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) to
consider incorporating the Armenian Genocide whenever the
History-Social Science Framework is revised.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Minor, absorbable GF costs to for the IQC to consider
incorporating the Armenian Genocide into the History-Social
Science Frameworks, to the extent this can be achieved through
AB 659
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the regular process. This assumes, however, that funding is
provided to the IQC to finish these frameworks. The
Governor's January budget proposes $270,000 to support the
work associated with the adoption of the Science and
History-Social Science Framework.
2)Potential GF/98 cost pressure, in the hundreds of thousands of
dollars, to the extent state and local education agencies
(LEAs) develop and incorporate additional content and
resources related to the Armenian Genocide into professional
development activities.
COMMENTS
Purpose. According to the author, "This bill will educate
students' on the struggles faced by survivors living in our
communities. To read about genocides or ethnic cleansings in a
textbook, while informative, often does not accurately portray
the crimes against humanity. Oral histories are effective
teaching tools that engage students by capturing the voices of
victims not included in traditional historical records.
Teaching students about genocides does not only highlight the
unspeakable brutalities in the world, but also shows the
resiliency of the human spirit."
Background. 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 history/social science
standards were developed in 1998 and the history/social science
curriculum framework was last revised in 2005. A review and
update of the History-Social Science Framework was underway and
nearly complete when the state suspended the process in 2009 due
to fiscal constraints. SDE anticipates they will resume
activities related to these frameworks in the summer of 2014.
Need for bill? This bill requires the IQC to consider
incorporating the Armenian Genocide whenever the History-Social
Science Frameworks are revised. The current History-Social
Science Standards and draft framework already 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. SDE also publishes a searchable database of books
titled Recommended Literature: Prekindergarten Through Grade
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Twelve that includes at least four titles addressing the
Armenian Genocide. Finally, CDE publishes a model curriculum on
human rights and genocide. This model curriculum was revised in
2000 and includes a lengthy discussion of the Armenian Genocide.
Prior Related Legislation
SB 234 (Wyland) (2009) 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 Framework. This bill died in this
committee.
SR 31 (Wyland) (2009) 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. This bill died in Senate Rules.
AB 1021 (Yee) (2003) required 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 was held on Suspense in this
committee.
Analysis Prepared by : Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081