BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1915
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1915 (Nazarian)
As Amended May 23, 2014
Majority vote
EDUCATION 7-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Buchanan, Olsen, Ch�vez, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow, |
| |Gonzalez, Nazarian, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Weber, Williams | |Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| | | |Holden, Jones, Linder, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, |
| | | |Weber |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Establishes the Armenian Genocide Education Act and
requires the inclusion of the Armenian Genocide into course of
study in grades 7 through 12, inclusive; requires the Armenian
Genocide to be included in publications created by the
California Department of Education (CDE); encourages the use of
oral testimony when teaching about the Armenian Genocide; and
encourages inclusion of the Armenian Genocide in professional
development activities. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires each school district to include instruction on the
inhumanity of the Armenian Genocide as a part of its social
science course of study in grades 7 through 12, inclusive.
2)Requires the CDE to incorporate into publications that
provide examples of curriculum resources for teacher use 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 the
Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides.
3)Encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator,
and witness testimony into the teaching of the Holocaust, and
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genocide, including, but not limited to, the Armenian,
Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides.
4)Encourages all state and local professional development
activities to provide teachers with content background and
resources to assist in teaching about the Armenian Genocide.
5)Requires the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC), when the
history-social science curriculum is revised as required by
law, to consider including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur,
and Rwandan genocides in the history-social science curriculum
framework.
6)Defines the Armenian Genocide as "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 exile of more than 500,000 innocent people during
the period from 1915 to 1923, inclusive.
7)Makes other technical, non-substantive changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires each Local Educational Agency (LEA) to adopt a course
of study in the social sciences for grades seven through 12,
inclusive, that includes the study of the inhumanity of
genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust.
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
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resources to assist in teaching about genocide.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1) State-mandated costs to LEAs, potentially in the
millions, to incorporate the Armenian Genocide within the
course of study in social science for grades 7 through 12.
2) Potential General Fund and Proposition 98 (1988) cost
pressure, in the thousands, 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.
3) Estimated costs of $150,000 for CDE to review
instructional resources related to the Armenian, Cambodian,
Darfur, and Rwandan Genocides and for the IQC to consider
including these genocides in the history-social science
frameworks. This bill does not require the CDE or IQC to
implement these provisions. CDE indicates these activities
cannot be absorbed within existing resources
COMMENTS : 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. This bill expands this
definition to include the period from 1918 through 1923 at which
time the Ottoman Turkish Empire was defeated and the Republic of
Turkey was established and requires the Armenian Genocide be
included within a school district's adopted course of study in
social science.
Analysis Prepared by : Rick Pratt/Jill Rice / ED. / (916)
319-2087
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FN: 0003782