Bill Text: IL SB0648 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Courses of Study Article of the School Code. Requires every public elementary school and high school to include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of Asian American history; contains provisions governing this instruction. Provides that the teaching of history of the United States shall include the study of the wrongful incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and the heroic service of the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army during World War II.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 24-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-04-20 - Added as Co-Sponsor Sen. Laura M. Murphy [SB0648 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-SB0648-Introduced.html

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102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2021 and 2022 SB0648 Introduced 2/24/2021, by Sen. Ram Villivalam SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
105 ILCS 5/27-20.8 new
105 ILCS 5/27-21 from Ch. 122, par. 27-21
Amends the Courses of Study Article of the School Code. Requires every public elementary school and high school to include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of Asian American history; contains provisions governing this instruction. Provides that the teaching of history of the United States shall include the study of the wrongful incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and the heroic service of the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army during World War II.
LRB102 16381 CMG 21770 b
FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT
A BILL FOR
SB0648 LRB102 16381 CMG 21770 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
27-20.8 and by changing Section 27-21 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/27-20.8 new)
Sec. 27-20.8. Asian American history study.
(a) Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, every public
elementary school and high school shall include in its
curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of Asian
American history, including the history of Asian Americans in
Illinois and the Midwest, as well as the contributions of
Asian Americans toward advancing civil rights from the 19th
century onward. These events shall include the contributions
made by individual Asian Americans in government and the arts,
humanities, and sciences, as well as the contributions of
Asian American communities to the economic, cultural, social,
and political development of the United States. The studying
of this material shall constitute an affirmation by students
of their commitment to respect the dignity of all races and
peoples and to forever eschew every form of discrimination in
their lives and careers.
(b) The State Superintendent of Education may prepare and

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make available to all school boards instructional materials,
including those established by the Public Broadcasting
Service, that may be used as guidelines for development of a
unit of instruction under this Section. However, each school
board shall itself determine the minimum amount of
instructional time that qualifies as a unit of instruction
satisfying the requirements of this Section.
(c) The regional superintendent of schools shall monitor a
school district's compliance with this Section's curricular
requirements during his or her annual compliance visit.
(d) A school may meet the requirements of this Section
through an online program or course.
(105 ILCS 5/27-21) (from Ch. 122, par. 27-21)
Sec. 27-21. History of United States. History of the
United States shall be taught in all public schools and in all
other educational institutions in this State supported or
maintained, in whole or in part, by public funds. The teaching
of history shall have as one of its objectives the imparting to
pupils of a comprehensive idea of our democratic form of
government and the principles for which our government stands
as regards other nations, including the studying of the place
of our government in world-wide movements and the leaders
thereof, with particular stress upon the basic principles and
ideals of our representative form of government. The teaching
of history shall include a study of the role and contributions

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of African Americans and other ethnic groups, including, but
not restricted to, Polish, Lithuanian, German, Hungarian,
Irish, Bohemian, Russian, Albanian, Italian, Czech, Slovak,
French, Scots, Hispanics, Asian Americans, etc., in the
history of this country and this State. To reinforce the study
of the role and contributions of Hispanics, such curriculum
shall include the study of the events related to the forceful
removal and illegal deportation of Mexican-American U.S.
citizens during the Great Depression. Beginning with the
2022-2023 school year, the teaching of history shall also
include the study of the wrongful incarceration of Japanese
Americans during World War II pursuant to United States
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's signed Executive Order
9066, the heroic service of the 100th Infantry Battalion and
the 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army
during World War II, the subsequent legal challenges by
Japanese Americans to Executive Order 9066, the resettlement
of Japanese Americans in Illinois following incarceration, and
the formal apology and redress for the incarceration issued by
the United States government in 1988. In public schools only,
the teaching of history shall include a study of the roles and
contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
people in the history of this country and this State. The
teaching of history also shall include a study of the role of
labor unions and their interaction with government in
achieving the goals of a mixed free enterprise system.

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Beginning with the 2020-2021 school year, the teaching of
history must also include instruction on the history of
Illinois. No pupils shall be graduated from the eighth grade
of any public school unless he or she has received such
instruction in the history of the United States and gives
evidence of having a comprehensive knowledge thereof, which
may be administered remotely.
(Source: P.A. 101-227, eff. 7-1-20; 101-341, eff. 1-1-20;
101-643, eff. 6-18-20.)