BILL NUMBER: SB 552INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Calderon FEBRUARY 22, 2013 An act to amend Section 51220 of the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 552, as introduced, Calderon. Pupil instruction: social sciences: violence awareness. Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer courses in specified areas of instruction, including social sciences. This bill would provide that instruction in the area of social sciences may include instruction on violence awareness, which may include a component drawn from personal testimony in the form of oral or video histories of individuals who were involved with violence awareness efforts. The bill would specify that it is the intent of the Legislature that the measure be carried out in a manner that does not result in new duties or programs being imposed on a school district. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 51220 of the Education Code is amended to read: 51220. The adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, shall offer courses in the following areas of study: (a) English, including knowledge of and appreciation for literature, language, and composition, and the skills of reading, listening, and speaking. (b) (1) Social sciences, drawing upon the disciplines of anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, psychology, and sociology, designed to fit the maturity of the pupils. Instruction shall provide a foundation for understanding the history, resources, development, and government of California and the United States of America; instruction in our American legal system, the operation of the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems, and the rights and duties of citizens under the criminal and civil law and the State and Federal Constitutions; the development of the American economic system, including the role of the entrepreneur and labor; the relations of persons to their human and natural environment; eastern and western cultures and civilizations; human rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust, and contemporary issues. (2) Instruction in the area of social sciences may also include instruction on violence awareness, which may include a component drawn from personal testimony in the form of oral or video histories of individuals who were involved in violence awareness efforts that exemplify the economic and cultural effects of violence prevention efforts within a city, the state, and the country. (c) Foreign language or languages, beginning not later than grade 7, designed to develop a facility for understanding, speaking, reading, and writing the particular language. (d) Physical education, with emphasis given to physical activities that are conducive to health and to vigor of body and mind, as required by Section 51222. (e) Science, including the physical and biological aspects, with emphasis on basic concepts, theories, and processes of scientific investigation and on the place of humans in ecological systems, and with appropriate applications of the interrelation and interdependence of the sciences. (f) Mathematics, including instruction designed to develop mathematical understandings, operational skills, and insight into problem-solving procedures. (g) Visual and performing arts, including dance, music, theater, and visual arts, with emphasis upon development of aesthetic appreciation and the skills of creative expression. (h) Applied arts, including instruction in the areas of consumer and homemaking education, industrial arts, general business education, or general agriculture. (i) Career technical education designed and conducted for the purpose of preparing youth for gainful employment in the occupations and in the numbers that are appropriate to the personnel needs of the state and the community served and relevant to the career desires and needs of the pupils. (j) Automobile driver education, designed to develop a knowledge of the provisions of the Vehicle Code and other laws of this state relating to the operation of motor vehicles, a proper acceptance of personal responsibility in traffic, a true appreciation of the causes, seriousness and consequences of traffic accidents, and to develop the knowledge and attitudes necessary for the safe operation of motor vehicles. A course in automobile driver education shall include education in the safe operation of motorcycles. (k) Other studies as may be prescribed by the governing board. SEC. 2. It is the intent of the Legislature that this measure be carried out in a manner that does not result in new duties or programs being imposed on school districts. In this regard, the Legislature finds and declares that this measure does not mandate costs to local agencies or school districts, and that materials used to comply with the provisions of this bill shall be a part of materials purchased in a school district's regular course of business and purchasing cycles.