California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1915

Introduced by Assembly Members Nazarian and Achadjian

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Ammiano, Ian Calderon, Fox, Hall, Nestande, and Wilk)

(Coauthors: Senators Vidak and Yee)

February 19, 2014

An act to amend Sections 51220 and 51226.3 of the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1915, as introduced, Nazarian. Pupil instruction: social sciences: Armenian Genocide.

Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer courses in specified areas of study, including social sciences. Existing law requires the instruction in social studies to provide instruction in, among other things, human rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust.

This bill would require the instruction in human rights issues to also include particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of the Armenian Genocide. To the extent this bill would increase the level of service required to be provided by school districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education to incorporate materials relating to civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources, consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science and other requirements.

This bill would also require the incorporation of materials related to the Armenian Genocide into those publications, and would make other related changes and nonsubstantive changes.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

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

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) 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 State and Federal 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, begin insert the Armenian
Genocide, end insert and the Holocaust, and contemporary issues.

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

(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, begin delete seriousness end delete begin insert seriousness, end insert 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.

SEC. 2.  

Section 51226.3 of the Education Code is amended to
read:

51226.3.  

(a) The begin delete State Department of Education shall
incorporate, end delete begin insert department shall incorporate end insert into publications that
provide examples of curriculum resources for teacher begin delete use, end delete begin insert use end insert
those materials developed by publishers of nonfiction, trade books,
and primary sources, or other public or private organizations, that
are age-appropriate and consistent with the subject frameworks
on history and social science that deal with civil rights, human
rights violations, genocide, slavery, begin insert the Armenian Genocide, end insert and
the Holocaust.

(b) The Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor,
rescuer, liberator, and witness testimony into the teaching of human
rights, genocide, begin insert the Armenian Genocide, end insert and the Holocaust.

(c) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional
development activities to provide teachers with content background
and resources to assist in teaching about civil rights, human rights
violations, genocide, slavery, begin insert the Armenian Genocide, end insert and the
Holocaust.

(d) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional
development activities to provide teachers with content background
and resources to assist in teaching about the Great Irish Famine of
1845-50.

(e) The Great Irish Famine of 1845-50 shall be considered in
the next cycle in which the begin delete history/social end delete begin insert history-social end insert science
curriculum framework and its accompanying instructional materials
are adopted.

(f) The Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide
adopted by the begin delete State Board of Education, end delete begin insert state board, end insert pursuant to
Section 51226, shall be made available to schools in grades 7 to
12, inclusive, as soon as funding is available for this purpose. In
addition, the begin delete State Department of Education end delete begin insert department end insert shall make
the curriculum available on its begin insert Internet end insert Web site.

SEC. 3.  

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.