Bill Text: CA AB1915 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Pupil instruction: social sciences: Armenian Genocide.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2014-09-18 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 414, Statutes of 2014. [AB1915 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB1915-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 1915	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 1, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Nazarian and Achadjian
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Ammiano, Ian Calderon, Fox, Hall,
 Holden,  Nestande,  Patterson,  and Wilk)
   (Coauthors: Senators  Vidak   Berryhill,
  Lara,   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 amended, 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 enact the Armenian Genocide Education Act and
 would require the instruction in human rights issues to also
include particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of the
Armenian Genocide  , as defined  . 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.    This act shall be known, and may be
cited, as the Armenian Genocide Education Act. 
   SECTION 1.   SEC. 2.   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, the Armenian Genocide, 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, seriousness, 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.   SEC. 3.   Section 51226.3 of
the Education Code is amended to read:
   51226.3.  (a) The department shall 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 civil rights, human rights
violations, genocide, slavery, the Armenian Genocide, and the
Holocaust.
   (b) The Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor,
rescuer, liberator, and witness testimony into the teaching of human
rights, genocide, the Armenian Genocide, 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, the Armenian Genocide, 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 history-social science curriculum framework
and its accompanying instructional materials are adopted.
   (f) The Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide adopted by
the state board, 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 department shall make
the curriculum available on its Internet Web site. 
   (g) For purposes of this article, "Armenian Genocide" means 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 the exile of more than 500,000 innocent
people during the period from 1915 to 1923, inclusive. 
   SEC. 3.   SEC. 4.   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.