Bill Text: TX HB4545 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to social studies curriculum in public schools.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-22 - Referred to Public Education [HB4545 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB4545-Introduced.html

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88R11226 ANG-D
By: Ordaz H.B. No. 4545

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to social studies curriculum in public schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 28.002(h-1) and (h-6), Education Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(h-1) In adopting the essential knowledge and skills for the
foundation curriculum under Subsection (a)(1), the State Board of
Education shall, as appropriate, 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 structure, function, and processes of
government institutions at the federal, state, and local levels;
[and]
(4) the roles and contributions of culturally and
racially diverse groups to the economic, political, and social
development of this state and the United States, including the
histories, contributions, and perspectives of:
(A) women;
(B) Native Americans, Indigenous Americans, and
American Indians;
(C) African Americans;
(D) Latinos;
(E) Asian Americans;
(F) Pacific Islanders;
(G) persons who identify as lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, or asexual;
(H) persons with disabilities;
(I) members of persecuted religious minorities;
and
(J) members of other ethnic and cultural groups
that have contributed to the history of this state and the United
States; and
(5) the founding documents of the United States,
including:
(A) the entirety of the Declaration of
Independence;
(B) the entirety of the United States
Constitution;
(C) the Federalist Papers, including the
entirety of Essays 10 and 51;
(D) excerpts from Alexis de Tocqueville's
Democracy in America;
(E) the transcript of the first Lincoln-Douglas
debate;
(F) the writings of the founding fathers of the
United States;
(G) the entirety of Frederick Douglass's
speeches "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" and "What the
Black Man Wants"; and
(H) the entirety of Martin Luther King Jr.'s
speech "I Have a Dream."
(h-6) In providing instruction regarding the founding
documents of the United States as described by Subsection (h-1)(5)
[(h-1)(4)], a school district or open-enrollment charter school
shall use those documents as part of the instructional materials
for the instruction.
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024
school year.
SECTION 3. 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, 2023.