BILL NUMBER: AB 1915 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 26, 2014
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 27, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 22, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 19, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 25, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 23, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2014
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 Berryhill, Lara, Vidak, and Wyland)
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, 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 provide that the instruction in human rights issues may also
include particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of the
Armenian Genocide.
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. Under existing law, the Legislature encourages the
incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness testimony
into the teaching of human rights, genocide, and the Holocaust.
Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and
requires the commission to, among other things, recommend curriculum
frameworks to the State Board of Education.
This bill would encourage the department to incorporate materials
relating to the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides
into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources,
consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science.
The bill would require the commission to consider including the
Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides in the recommended
history-social science curriculum framework when the history-social
science curriculum framework is revised as required by law. The bill
would also specify that the Legislature encourages the incorporation
of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony, as
defined, into the teaching of human rights, the Holocaust, and
genocide, including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan
genocides.
This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 51226.3
of the Education Code, proposed by SB 1380, to be operative only if
SB 1380 and this bill are chaptered and become effective on or before
January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last.
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.
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) (1) 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, and the Holocaust, and contemporary
issues.
(2) For purposes of this subdivision, genocide may include the
Armenian Genocide. The "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.
(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. 3. Section 51226.3 of the Education Code is amended to read:
51226.3. (a) (1) 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, and the
Holocaust.
(2) The Legislature encourages the department 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.
(b) (1) The Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor,
rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony into the teaching of
human rights, the Holocaust, and genocide, including, but not limited
to, the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides.
(2) As used in this subdivision, "oral testimony" means the
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 a DVD or an online video.
(c) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional
development activities to provide teachers with content background
and resources to assist them 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 them 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) When the history-social science curriculum framework is
revised as required by law, the Instructional Quality Commission
shall consider including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan
genocides in the recommended history-social science curriculum
framework.
(g) 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.
(h) 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. 3.5. Section 51226.3 of the Education Code is amended to
read:
51226.3. (a) (1) 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, and the
Holocaust.
(2) The Legislature encourages the department 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.
(b) (1) The Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor,
rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony into the teaching of
human rights, the Holocaust, and genocide, including, but not limited
to, the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides.
(2) As used in this subdivision, "oral testimony" means the
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 a DVD or an online video.
(c) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional
development activities to provide teachers with content background
and resources to assist them 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 them 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) When the history-social science curriculum framework is
revised as required by law, the Instructional Quality Commission
shall consider including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan
genocides in the recommended history-social science curriculum
framework.
(g) 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.
(h) 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. 4. Section 3.5 of this bill incorporates amendments to
Section 51226.3 of the Education Code proposed by both this bill and
Senate Bill 1380. It shall only become operative if (1) both bills
are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, (2)
each bill amends Section 51226.3 of the Education Code, and (3) this
bill is enacted after Senate Bill 1380, in which case Section 3 of
this bill shall not become operative.