BILL ANALYSIS �
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1380|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1380
Author: Wyland (R)
Amended: 4/30/14
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-0, 4/24/14
AYES: Liu, Wyland, Block, Galgiani, Hancock, Hueso, Huff,
Monning
NO VOTE RECORDED: Correa
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-0, 5/5/14
AYES: De Le�n, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Padilla
SUBJECT : Pupil instruction: genocide
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Instructional Quality
Commission (IQC) to consider including the Armenian Genocide in
the history-social science framework, and encourages instruction
to include specific components.
ANALYSIS : Academic content standards define the knowledge,
concepts, and skills that students should acquire at each grade
level. Curricular frameworks are the blueprint for implementing
the standards, and include criteria by which instructional
materials are evaluated.
The history-social science framework was last adopted in 2005.
CONTINUED
SB 1380
Page
2
A review of this framework was underway and nearly complete when
the state suspended the process due to budget constraints. The
process for reviewing frameworks has been suspended since July
28, 2009. The State Board of Education is specifically
prohibited from reviewing frameworks and adopting instructional
materials until the 2015-16 school year. However, the Board is
authorized to revise the history-social science framework but
only upon completion of work related to the development of
frameworks for the common core standards in English language
arts and mathematics.
This bill requires the IQC to consider including the Armenian
Genocide in the history-social science framework, and encourages
instruction to include explicit components. Specifically, this
bill:
1.Requires the IQC, when the history-social science framework is
revised, to consider including the Armenian Genocide in the
history-social science framework.
2.Encourages all of the following:
A. Instruction in the origins of genocide as a phenomenon
throughout history that continues to the present day.
B. Content providers and teachers to promote student
analysis of genocides, including the ethnic, religious and
political causes.
C. Content providers and teachers to incorporate
instructional materials for students that examine the
possible means of preventing and halting genocide policies
or interventions by the United Nations, other groups of
nations, or the United States.
D. Examinations of interventions to prevent genocides
should include arguments and evidence for and against
intervention, the role of public support for the
intervention, and the possible consequences of such
interventions.
E. Instruction in social sciences in grades 7-12 to include
instruction on the American military conflicts in
Afghanistan and Iraq, including Operation Desert Storm, as
CONTINUED
SB 1380
Page
3
specified.
1.Encourages the incorporation of oral testimony into the
teaching of human rights, and adds genocide, including but not
limited to the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan
genocides, to the teaching of human rights.
2.Defines "oral testimony" as firsthand accounts of significant
historical events presented in a format that includes but is
not limited to in-person testimony, video, or a multimedia
option such as DVD or an online video.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
History-social science framework: No new costs for the IQC,
because the current (2009) draft of the history-social science
framework already covers the Armenian genocide.
"Encouraging" instruction: Minor costs pressure on schools to
teach specific additional topics, and to incorporate oral
histories into their instruction, to the extent they are not
already doing so.
PQ:nl 5/7/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
**** END ****
CONTINUED