Bill Text: FL S0772 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Required Instruction on the History of the Holocaust and of African Americans
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2021-04-30 - Died in Education [S0772 Detail]
Download: Florida-2021-S0772-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2021 SB 772 By Senator Thurston 33-00950-21 2021772__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to required instruction on the history 3 of the Holocaust and of African Americans; amending s. 4 1003.42, F.S.; requiring the Department of Education 5 to prepare and offer standards and curricula related 6 to the history of African Americans; authorizing the 7 department to seek input from certain entities for 8 specified purposes; authorizing the department to seek 9 input from or contract with specified entities to 10 develop specified training and resources; creating s. 11 1003.4551, F.S.; requiring the Department of Education 12 to annually verify that school districts, charter 13 schools, and specified private schools implement 14 certain instruction relating to the history of the 15 Holocaust and the history of African Americans; 16 providing requirements for school districts, charter 17 schools, and specified private schools relating to 18 such instruction; providing requirements for district 19 school boards, charter school governing boards, and 20 private school directors or similar administrators; 21 requiring district school superintendents, charter 22 school principals, and private school directors or 23 similar administrators to annually provide specified 24 evidence to the department by a certain date; 25 providing penalties if he or she fails to provide such 26 evidence; authorizing the State Board of Education to 27 adopt rules; amending s. 1008.22, F.S.; requiring 28 certain statewide, standardized assessments to include 29 curricula content from the history of the Holocaust 30 and the history of African Americans when appropriate; 31 providing an effective date. 32 33 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 34 35 Section 1. Paragraph (h) of subsection (2) of section 36 1003.42, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 37 1003.42 Required instruction.— 38 (2) Members of the instructional staff of the public 39 schools, subject to the rules of the State Board of Education 40 and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and 41 faithfully, using the books and materials required that meet the 42 highest standards for professionalism and historical accuracy, 43 following the prescribed courses of study, and employing 44 approved methods of instruction, the following: 45 (h) The history of African Americans, including the history 46 of African peoples before the political conflicts that led to 47 the development of slavery, the passage to America, the 48 enslavement experience, abolition, and the contributions of 49 African Americans to society. Instructional materials shall 50 include the contributions of African Americans to American 51 society. The department shall prepare and offer standards and 52 curricula for the instruction required by this paragraph and may 53 seek input from the Commissioner of Education’s African American 54 History Task Force or from state or nationally recognized 55 African American history educational organizations. The 56 department may seek input from the Commissioner of Education’s 57 African American History Task Force or contract with a 58 recognized museum of African American history to develop 59 training for instructional personnel and grade-appropriate 60 classroom resources to support the developed curricula. 61 62 The State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards 63 and pursue assessment of the requirements of this subsection. A 64 character development program that incorporates the values of 65 the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor and that is 66 offered as part of a social studies, English Language Arts, or 67 other schoolwide character building and veteran awareness 68 initiative meets the requirements of paragraphs (s) and (t). 69 Section 2. Section 1003.4551, Florida Statutes, is created 70 to read: 71 1003.4551 School district, charter school, and private 72 school implementation of the history of the Holocaust and the 73 history of African Americans.— 74 (1) Beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, the department 75 shall annually verify that each school district, charter school, 76 and private school implements the instruction required under s. 77 1003.42(2)(g) and (h), relating to the history of the Holocaust 78 and the history of African Americans, efficiently and faithfully 79 throughout the school district’s, charter school’s, or private 80 school’s entire curriculum, as appropriate. For purposes of this 81 section, the term “private school” means a private school that 82 accepts scholarship students who participate in a scholarship 83 program under chapter 1002. 84 (2) Beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, each school 85 district, charter school, and private school must: 86 (a) Develop, and each school board, charter school 87 governing board, and private school director or similar 88 administrator must adopt, a plan for the implementation of the 89 required instruction on the history of the Holocaust and the 90 history of African Americans and publicize such plan in the 91 school district’s, charter school’s, or private school’s 92 curriculum guides and on the school district’s, charter 93 school’s, or private school’s website. 94 (b) Develop and implement an ongoing professional 95 development plan for training instructional staff in strategies 96 for teaching the history of the Holocaust and the history of 97 African Americans. The school district, charter school, or 98 private school must allocate adequate resources to structured 99 professional development programs and for enhancing the 100 instruction of the history of the Holocaust and the history of 101 African Americans in an infused format. 102 (c) Integrate curricula for the history of the Holocaust 103 and the history of African Americans that meet the requirements 104 of s. 1003.42(2)(g) and (h) as part of the school district’s, 105 charter school’s, or private school’s curriculum. Such curricula 106 must be distributed to curriculum specialists, teachers, media 107 specialists, and other instructional staff. The school district, 108 charter school, or private school must ensure that adequate 109 instructional resources, including, but not limited to, books, 110 compact discs, digital media, and lesson plans, are available to 111 support such instruction. 112 (d) Include the history of the Holocaust and the history of 113 African Americans content in lesson plans for the entire school 114 year, as appropriate. 115 (e) Approve methods for teaching and assessing the history 116 of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans curricula. 117 (f) Include the history of the Holocaust and the history of 118 African Americans content in any preparations for statewide 119 assessments, when appropriate. 120 (g) Include the history of the Holocaust and the history of 121 African Americans content in all appropriate subject areas. 122 (h) Partner with a state university for the development and 123 implementation of professional development, curricula, and 124 instructional support, including jointly seeking external 125 funding and preparing teachers and other instructional staff to 126 teach the history of the Holocaust and the history of African 127 Americans. 128 (i) Develop strategies to involve parents in the 129 implementation of the curricula for the history of the Holocaust 130 and the history of African Americans, including through 131 awareness information sessions. 132 (j) Partner with community members in the development and 133 ongoing implementation of the history of the Holocaust and the 134 history of African Americans curricula. 135 (3) By August 1, 2022, and annually thereafter, each 136 district school superintendent, charter school principal, and 137 private school director or similar administrator shall provide 138 to the department, in a format prescribed by the department, 139 evidence of school district, charter school, and private school 140 compliance with subsection (2). If a district school 141 superintendent, charter school principal, or private school 142 director or similar administrator fails to provide such 143 evidence, he or she is subject to the following penalties: 144 (a) For a district school superintendent, his or her salary 145 must be withheld until he or she provides such evidence. 146 (b) For a charter school principal, his or her charter 147 school is deemed in violation of its charter with the school 148 district until he or she provides such evidence. 149 (c) For a private school director or similar administrator, 150 his or her private school may not receive any state funds from a 151 scholarship program under chapter 1002 until he or she provides 152 such evidence. 153 (4) The State Board of Education may adopt rules to 154 administer this section. 155 Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section 156 1008.22, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 157 1008.22 Student assessment program for public schools.— 158 (3) STATEWIDE, STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT PROGRAM.—The 159 Commissioner of Education shall design and implement a 160 statewide, standardized assessment program aligned to the core 161 curricular content established in the Next Generation Sunshine 162 State Standards. The commissioner also must develop or select 163 and implement a common battery of assessment tools that will be 164 used in all juvenile justice education programs in the state. 165 These tools must accurately measure the core curricular content 166 established in the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards. 167 Participation in the assessment program is mandatory for all 168 school districts and all students attending public schools, 169 including adult students seeking a standard high school diploma 170 under s. 1003.4282 and students in Department of Juvenile 171 Justice education programs, except as otherwise provided by law. 172 If a student does not participate in the assessment program, the 173 school district must notify the student’s parent and provide the 174 parent with information regarding the implications of such 175 nonparticipation. The statewide, standardized assessment program 176 shall be designed and implemented as follows: 177 (a) Statewide, standardized comprehensive assessments.—The 178 statewide, standardized Reading assessment shall be administered 179 annually in grades 3 through 10. The statewide, standardized 180 Writing assessment shall be administered annually at least once 181 at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. When the 182 Reading and Writing assessments are replaced by English Language 183 Arts (ELA) assessments, ELA assessments shall be administered to 184 students in grades 3 through 10. Retake opportunities for the 185 grade 10 Reading assessment or, upon implementation, the grade 186 10 ELA assessment must be provided. Students taking the ELA 187 assessments shall not take the statewide, standardized 188 assessments in Reading or Writing. Reading passages and writing 189 prompts for ELA assessments shall incorporate grade-level core 190 curricula content from social studies and, when appropriate, 191 curricula content from the history of the Holocaust and the 192 history of African Americans. The statewide, standardized 193 Mathematics assessments shall be administered annually in grades 194 3 through 8. Students taking a revised Mathematics assessment 195 shall not take the discontinued assessment. The statewide, 196 standardized Science assessment shall be administered annually 197 at least once at the elementary and middle grades levels. In 198 order to earn a standard high school diploma, a student who has 199 not earned a passing score on the grade 10 Reading assessment 200 or, upon implementation, the grade 10 ELA assessment must earn a 201 passing score on the assessment retake or earn a concordant 202 score as authorized under subsection (9). 203 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.