Bill Text: IL HB2490 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Courses of Study Article of the School Code. Provides that every public school shall include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of the civil rights movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968, the natural law and natural rights principles that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., drew from and that informed his leadership of the civil rights movement, and the tactics and strategies of nonviolent resistance that he championed in response to the Jim Crow laws of that era. Provides that the curriculum shall include an additional unit of instruction studying other acts of discriminatory injustice, such as genocide, elsewhere around the globe. Provides that the State Board of Education shall prepare and make available to all school boards instructional materials that may be used as guidelines for development of the units of instruction. Allows a school board to determine the minimum amount of instructional time required. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2023-03-10 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB2490 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB2490-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 HB2490 Introduced , by Rep. Kam Buckner SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
105 ILCS 5/27-23.17 new
Amends the Courses of Study Article of the School Code. Provides that every public school shall include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of the civil rights movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968, the natural law and natural rights principles that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., drew from and that informed his leadership of the civil rights movement, and the tactics and strategies of nonviolent resistance that he championed in response to the Jim Crow laws of that era. Provides that the curriculum shall include an additional unit of instruction studying other acts of discriminatory injustice, such as genocide, elsewhere around the globe. Provides that the State Board of Education shall prepare and make available to all school boards instructional materials that may be used as guidelines for development of the units of instruction. Allows a school board to determine the minimum amount of instructional time required. Effective immediately.
LRB103 25671 RJT 52020 b
STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
HB2490 LRB103 25671 RJT 52020 b
AN ACT concerning education.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section
27-23.17 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/27-23.17 new)
Sec. 27-23.17. Civil rights and discriminatory injustice
study.
(a) Every public elementary school and high school shall
include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the
events of the civil rights movement in the United States from
1954 to 1968, the natural law and natural rights principles
that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., drew from and
that informed his leadership of the civil rights movement, and
the tactics and strategies of nonviolent resistance that he
championed in response to the Jim Crow laws of that era. This
period in American history is known as the Civil Rights Era
because, during this period, reform-minded Americans organized
to press for a rejection of the doctrine of "separate but
equal" and to repeal the Jim Crow laws of that era in parts of
the United States that embodied that doctrine. One of the
universal lessons of the Civil Rights Era is that hatred on the
basis of immutable characteristics, not just race or ethnicity

HB2490 - 2 - LRB103 25671 RJT 52020 b
but also characteristics such as nationality, religious
belief, disability, or sex, can overtake any nation or
society, leading to profound injustice.
To reinforce that lesson, the curriculum shall include an
additional unit of instruction under this Section and in
addition to the unit of instruction under Section 27-20.3
studying other acts of discriminatory injustice, such as
genocide, elsewhere around the globe. This additional unit of
instruction shall include, but not be limited to, the Armenian
Genocide, the Holocaust, Chinese labor in Cuba, the Uyghurs in
China, and the Rohingya of Myanmar.
The studying of the material under this Section is a
reaffirmation of the commitment of the free peoples of this
State to reject bigotry, to champion equal protection under
the law as a foundational principle of our republic, and to act
in opposition to injustice wherever it may occur.
(b) The State Board of Education shall prepare and make
available to all school boards instructional materials that
may be used as guidelines for development of the units of
instruction under this Section.
(c) Each school board shall determine the minimum amount
of instructional time required under this Section.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.