Bill Text: NY S06359 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Requires public elementary and high schools to provide instruction in Asian American history and civic impact.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO EDUCATION [S06359 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S06359-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         6359--A

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                     April 23, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens. LIU, COONEY, GOUNARDES, KAVANAGH, STAVISKY, THOMAS
          -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to
          the Committee on Education  --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended,
          ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  education  law, in relation to requiring public
          elementary schools and high schools to provide  instruction  in  Asian
          American history and civic impact

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section  801-b
     2  to read as follows:
     3    §  801-b. Courses of study in Asian American history and civic impact.
     4  1. The board of regents is authorized  and  directed  to  establish  and
     5  develop  a course of study in the events of Asian American history. Such
     6  course of study shall be required for all students in public  elementary
     7  school  and  high  school  and may be included as part of the history or
     8  social studies curriculum of such schools. Instruction shall be provided
     9  by the teachers employed in the schools therein. Such instruction  shall
    10  include, but shall not be limited to, instruction in the following:
    11    a. The history of Asian Americans in New York and the Northeast;
    12    b.  The contributions of Asian Americans toward advancing civil rights
    13  from the nineteenth century onward;
    14    c. The contributions made by individual Asian Americans in  government
    15  and the arts, humanities and sciences; and
    16    d.  The  contributions  of Asian American communities to the economic,
    17  cultural, social and political development of the United States.
    18    2. The commissioner, shall provide technical assistance to  assist  in
    19  the  development  of  curricula for such courses of study which shall be
    20  age appropriate and developed according to the needs  and  abilities  of
    21  students  at  successive grade levels in order to provide understanding,

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11024-03-1
        S. 6359--A                          2

     1  awareness, skills, information and support to aid in  the  knowledge  of
     2  Asian American history and civic impact.
     3    3.  The  regents  shall  adopt  rules providing for attendance of such
     4  courses of study and for such other matters as are required for effectu-
     5  ating the purposes of this section. The commissioner shall be  responsi-
     6  ble  for the enforcement of such section and shall cause to be inspected
     7  and supervise the instruction to be given. The commissioner may, in  his
     8  or  her discretion, cause all or a portion of the public school money to
     9  be apportioned to a district or city to be withheld  for  non-compliance
    10  with  the  rules of the regents adopted as herein provided and to compel
    11  attendance in such instruction, as herein prescribed.
    12    4. The commissioner shall make available to all public elementary  and
    13  high  schools  in  the state suitable curriculum materials to aid in the
    14  instruction of students in Asian American history and civic  impact  and
    15  shall promulgate rules and regulations governing such courses of study.
    16    5. Completion of such courses of study shall constitute an affirmation
    17  by  students of their commitment to respect the dignity of all races and
    18  peoples and to forever eschew every  form  of  discrimination  in  their
    19  lives and careers.
    20    6.  A  school  may  meet  the  requirements of this section through an
    21  online course or program.
    22    § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of July  next  succeeding
    23  the date on which it shall have become a law.