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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 7082
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 3806
Referred to Committee on EDUCATION
Introduced by:
(ED)
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E INCLUSION OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN
STUDIES IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 10-16b of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2019): 2
(a) In the public schools the program of instruction offered shall 3
include at least the following subject matter, as taught by legally 4
qualified teachers, the arts; career education; consumer education; 5
health and safety, including, but not limited to, human growth and 6
development, nutrition, first aid, including cardiopulmonary 7
resuscitation training in accordance with the provisions of section 10-8
16qq, disease prevention and cancer awareness, including, but not 9
limited to, age and developmentally appropriate instruction in 10
performing self-examinations for the purposes of screening for breast 11
cancer and testicular cancer, community and consumer health, 12
physical, mental and emotional health, including youth suicide 13
prevention, substance abuse prevention, including instruction relating 14
to opioid use and related disorders, safety, which shall include the safe 15 Raised Bill No. 7082
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use of social media, as defined in section 9-601, and may include the 16
dangers of gang membership, and accident prevention; language arts, 17
including reading, writing, grammar, speaking and spelling; 18
mathematics; physical education; science, which may include the 19
climate change curriculum described in subsection (d) of this section; 20
social studies, including, but not limited to, citizenship, economics, 21
geography, government, history, [and] Holocaust and genocide 22
education and awareness in accordance with the provisions of section 23
10-18f, and African-American studies in accordance with the 24
provisions of section 2 of this act; computer programming instruction; 25
and in addition, on at least the secondary level, one or more world 26
languages and vocational education. For purposes of this subsection, 27
world languages shall include American Sign Language, provided 28
such subject matter is taught by a qualified instructor under the 29
supervision of a teacher who holds a certificate issued by the State 30
Board of Education. For purposes of this subsection, the "arts" means 31
any form of visual or performing arts, which may include, but not be 32
limited to, dance, music, art and theatre. 33
(b) If a local or regional board of education requires its pupils to 34
take a course in a world language, the parent or guardian of a pupil 35
identified as deaf or hard of hearing may request in writing that such 36
pupil be exempted from such requirement and, if such a request is 37
made, such pupil shall be exempt from such requirement. 38
(c) Each local and regional board of education shall on September 1, 39
1982, and annually thereafter at such time and in such manner as the 40
Commissioner of Education shall request, attest to the State Board of 41
Education that such local or regional board of education offers at least 42
the program of instruction required pursuant to this section, and that 43
such program of instruction is planned, ongoing and systematic. 44
(d) The State Board of Education shall make available curriculum 45
materials and such other materials as may assist local and regional 46
boards of education in developing instructional programs pursuant to 47
this section. The State Board of Education, within available 48 Raised Bill No. 7082
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appropriations and utilizing available resource materials, shall assist 49
and encourage local and regional boards of education to include: (1) 50
Holocaust and genocide education and awareness; (2) the historical 51
events surrounding the Great Famine in Ireland; (3) African-American 52
history; (4) Puerto Rican history; (5) Native American history; (6) 53
personal financial management, including, but not limited to, financial 54
literacy as developed in the plan provided under section 10-16pp; (7) 55
training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of automatic 56
external defibrillators; (8) labor history and law, including organized 57
labor, the collective bargaining process, existing legal protections in the 58
workplace, the history and economics of free market capitalism and 59
entrepreneurialism, and the role of labor and capitalism in the 60
development of the American and world economies ; (9) climate 61
change consistent with the Next Generation Science Standards; (10) 62
topics approved by the state board upon the request of local or 63
regional boards of education as part of the program of instruction 64
offered pursuant to subsection (a) of this section; and (11) instruction 65
relating to the Safe Haven Act, sections 17a-57 to 17a-61, inclusive. The 66
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection shall be available 67
to each local and regional board of education for the development of 68
curriculum on climate change as described in this subsection. 69
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2019) (a) For the school year 70
commencing July 1, 2019, and each school year thereafter, each local 71
and regional board of education shall include African-American 72
studies as part of the social studies curriculum for the school district, 73
pursuant to section 10-16b of the general statutes, as amended by this 74
act. In developing and implementing the African-American studies 75
curriculum, the board may utilize existing and appropriate public or 76
private materials, personnel and other resources, including the 77
curriculum materials made available by the State Board of Education 78
pursuant to subsection (d) of said section 10-16b. 79
(b) A local or regional board of education may accept gifts, grants 80
and donations, including in-kind donations, designated for the 81
development and implementation of the African-American studies 82 Raised Bill No. 7082
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curriculum under this section. 83
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2019 10-16b
Sec. 2 July 1, 2019 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To include African-American studies in the social studies component
of the public school curriculum.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]