Bill Text: TX HB3979 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to the social studies curriculum in public schools.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 36-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-06-15 - Effective on 9/1/21 [HB3979 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB3979-Enrolled.html
H.B. No. 3979 |
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relating to the social studies curriculum in public schools. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 28.002, Education Code, is amended by | ||
adding Subsections (h-2), (h-3), (h-4), and (h-5) to read as | ||
follows: | ||
(h-2) In adopting the essential knowledge and skills for the | ||
social studies curriculum, the State Board of Education shall adopt | ||
essential knowledge and skills that develop each student's civic | ||
knowledge, including an understanding of: | ||
(1) the fundamental moral, political, and | ||
intellectual foundations of the American experiment in | ||
self-government; | ||
(2) the history, qualities, traditions, and features | ||
of civic engagement in the United States; | ||
(3) the history of Native Americans; | ||
(4) the structure, function, and processes of | ||
government institutions at the federal, state, and local levels; | ||
(5) the founding documents of the United States, | ||
including: | ||
(A) the Declaration of Independence; | ||
(B) the United States Constitution; | ||
(C) the Federalist Papers; | ||
(D) the transcript of the first Lincoln-Douglas | ||
debate; | ||
(E) the writings of and about the founding | ||
fathers and mothers and other founding persons of the United | ||
States, including the writings of: | ||
(i) George Washington; | ||
(ii) Ona Judge; | ||
(iii) Thomas Jefferson; | ||
(iv) Sally Hemings; and | ||
(v) any other founding persons of the | ||
United States; | ||
(F) writings from Frederick Douglass's | ||
newspaper, the North Star; | ||
(G) the Book of Negroes; | ||
(H) the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850; | ||
(I) the Indian Removal Act; | ||
(J) Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury | ||
Baptists; and | ||
(K) William Still's Underground Railroad | ||
Records; | ||
(6) historical documents related to the civic | ||
accomplishments of marginalized populations, including documents | ||
related to: | ||
(A) the Chicano movement; | ||
(B) women's suffrage and equal rights; | ||
(C) the civil rights movement; | ||
(D) the Snyder Act of 1924; and | ||
(E) the American labor movement; | ||
(7) the history of white supremacy, including but not | ||
limited to the institution of slavery, the eugenics movement, and | ||
the Ku Klux Klan, and the ways in which it is morally wrong; | ||
(8) the history and importance of the civil rights | ||
movement, including the following documents: | ||
(A) Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from a | ||
Birmingham Jail" and "I Have a Dream" speech; | ||
(B) the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 | ||
U.S.C. Section 2000a et seq.); | ||
(C) the United States Supreme Court's decision in | ||
Brown v. Board of Education;; | ||
(D) the Emancipation Proclamation; | ||
(E) the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; | ||
(F) the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth | ||
Amendments to the United States Constitution; | ||
(G) the United States Court of Appeals for the | ||
Ninth Circuit decision in Mendez v. Westminster; | ||
(H) Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Life of | ||
Frederick Douglass, an American Slave;; | ||
(I) the life and work of Cesar Chavez; and | ||
(J) the life and work of Dolores Huerta; | ||
(9) the history and importance of the women's suffrage | ||
movement, including the following documents: | ||
(A) the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 | ||
U.S.C. Section 10101 et seq.); | ||
(B) the Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-Sixth | ||
Amendments to the United States Constitution; | ||
(C) Abigail Adams's letter "Remember the | ||
Ladies"; | ||
(D) the works of Susan B. Anthony; and | ||
(E) the Declaration of Sentiments; | ||
(10) the life and works of Dr. Hector P. Garcia; | ||
(11) the American GI Forum; | ||
(12) the League of United Latin American Citizens; and | ||
(13) Hernandez v. Texas (1954). | ||
(h-3) For any social studies course in the required | ||
curriculum: | ||
(1) a teacher may not be compelled to discuss a | ||
particular current event or widely debated and currently | ||
controversial issue of public policy or social affairs; | ||
(2) a teacher who chooses to discuss a topic described | ||
by Subdivision (1) shall, to the best of the teacher's ability, | ||
strive to explore the topic from diverse and contending | ||
perspectives without giving deference to any one perspective; | ||
(3) a school district, open-enrollment charter | ||
school, or teacher may not require, make part of a course, or award | ||
a grade or course credit, including extra credit, for a student's: | ||
(A) political activism, lobbying, or efforts to | ||
persuade members of the legislative or executive branch at the | ||
federal, state, or local level to take specific actions by direct | ||
communication; or | ||
(B) participation in any internship, practicum, | ||
or similar activity involving social or public policy advocacy; and | ||
(4) a teacher, administrator, or other employee of a | ||
state agency, school district, or open-enrollment charter school | ||
may not: | ||
(A) be required to engage in training, | ||
orientation, or therapy that presents any form of race or sex | ||
stereotyping or blame on the basis of race or sex; | ||
(B) require or make part of a course the concept | ||
that: | ||
(i) one race or sex is inherently superior | ||
to another race or sex; | ||
(ii) an individual, by virtue of the | ||
individual's race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or | ||
oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously; | ||
(iii) an individual should be discriminated | ||
against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of | ||
the individual's race; | ||
(iv) members of one race or sex cannot and | ||
should not attempt to treat others without respect to race or sex; | ||
(v) an individual's moral character, | ||
standing, or worth is necessarily determined by the individual's | ||
race or sex; | ||
(vi) an individual, by virtue of the | ||
individual's race or sex, bears responsibility for actions | ||
committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex; | ||
(vii) an individual should feel discomfort, | ||
guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on | ||
account of the individual's race or sex; | ||
(viii) meritocracy or traits such as a hard | ||
work ethic are racist or sexist or were created by members of a | ||
particular race to oppress members of another race; | ||
(ix) the advent of slavery in the territory | ||
that is now the United States constituted the true founding of the | ||
United States; or | ||
(x) with respect to their relationship to | ||
American values, slavery and racism are anything other than | ||
deviations from, betrayals of, or failures to live up to, the | ||
authentic founding principles of the United States, which include | ||
liberty and equality; and | ||
(C) require an understanding of The 1619 Project. | ||
(h-4) A state agency, school district, or open-enrollment | ||
charter school may not accept private funding for the purpose of | ||
developing a curriculum, purchasing or selecting curriculum | ||
materials, or providing teacher training or professional | ||
development for a course described by Subsection (h-3)(3). | ||
(h-5) A school district or open-enrollment charter school | ||
may not implement, interpret, or enforce any rules or student code | ||
of conduct in a manner that would result in the punishment of a | ||
student for discussing, or have a chilling effect on student | ||
discussion of, the concepts described by Subsection (h-3)(4). | ||
SECTION 2. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of | ||
this section, this Act applies beginning with the 2021-2022 school | ||
year. | ||
(b) Section 28.002(h-2), Education Code, as added by this | ||
Act, applies beginning with the 2022-2023 school year. | ||
SECTION 3. Not later than December 31, 2022, the State Board | ||
of Education shall review and revise, as needed, the essential | ||
knowledge and skills of the social studies curriculum as required | ||
by Section 28.002(h-2), Education Code, as added by this Act. | ||
SECTION 4. If any provision of this Act or its application | ||
to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does | ||
not affect other provisions or applications of this Act that can be | ||
given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to | ||
this end the provisions of this Act are declared to be severable. | ||
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
Act takes effect September 1, 2021. | ||
______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
I certify that H.B. No. 3979 was passed by the House on May | ||
11, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 79, Nays 65, 2 present, not | ||
voting. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||
I certify that H.B. No. 3979 was passed by the Senate, with | ||
amendments, on May 22, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 18, Nays | ||
13; and that the Senate adopted a motion to recede from amendments | ||
to H.B. No. 3979 on May 28, 2021, and declared H.B. No. 3979 to have | ||
passed the Senate in the same form in which it was received from the | ||
House by the following vote: Yeas 18, Nays 13. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Secretary of the Senate | ||
APPROVED: _____________________ | ||
Date | ||
_____________________ | ||
Governor |