BILL NUMBER: AB 1915	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


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,  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   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.  Section 51226.3 of the Education Code is amended to read:
   51226.3.  (a) The  State Department of Education shall
incorporate,   department shall incorporate  into
publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for
teacher  use,   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  
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 of Education,   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  State Department of Education
  department  shall make the curriculum available
on its  Internet  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.