HB 51 2022
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A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to required instruction in the history 2
of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans; 3
amending s. 1003.42, F.S.; requiring the Department of 4
Education to prepare and offer standards and 5
curriculum related to the history of African 6
Americans; authorizing the department to seek input 7
from certain entities for specified purposes; 8
authorizing the department to seek input from or 9
contract with specified entities to develop specified 10
training and resources; creating s. 1003.4551, F.S.; 11
requiring the department to annually verify that 12
school districts, charter schools, and specified 13
private schools implement certain instruction relating 14
to the history of the Holocaust and the history of 15
African Americans and providing requirements therefor; 16
requiring district school superintendents, charter 17
school principals, and private school directors or 18
similar administrators to annually provide specified 19
evidence to the department by a certain date; 20
providing penalties for failure to provide such 21
evidence; authorizing the State Board of Education to 22
adopt rules; amending s. 1008.22, F.S.; requiring 23
certain statewide, standardized assessments to include 24
curricula content from the history of the Holocaust 25
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and the history of African Americans; providing an 26
effective date. 27
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Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 29
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Section 1. Paragraph (h) of subsection (2) of section 31
1003.42, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 32
1003.42 Required instruction. — 33
(2) Members of the instructional staf f of the public 34
schools, subject to the rules of the State Board of Education 35
and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and 36
faithfully, using the books and materials required that meet the 37
highest standards for professionalism and historical a ccuracy, 38
following the prescribed courses of study, and employing 39
approved methods of instruction, the following: 40
(h) The history of African Americans, including the 41
history of African peoples before the political conflicts that 42
led to the development of slavery, the passage to America, the 43
enslavement experience, abolition, and the contributions of 44
African Americans to society. Instructional materials shall 45
include the contributions of African Americans to American 46
society. The department shall develop a nd offer standards and 47
curriculum for the instruction required by this paragraph and 48
may seek input from the Commissioner of Education's African 49
American History Task Force or from any state or nationally 50
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recognized African American history educational org anizations 51
during the development of such standards and curriculum. The 52
department may also seek input from the Commissioner of 53
Education's African American History Task Force or contract with 54
a recognized museum of African American history to develop 55
training for instructional staff and grade -appropriate classroom 56
resources to support the developed curriculum. 57
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The State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards 59
and pursue assessment of the requirements of this subsection. A 60
character development program that incorporates the values of 61
the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor and that is 62
offered as part of a social studies, English Language Arts, or 63
other schoolwide character building and veteran awareness 64
initiative meets the requiremen ts of paragraphs (s) and (t). 65
Section 2. Section 1003.4551, Florida Statutes, is created 66
to read: 67
1003.4551 School district, charter school, and private 68
school implementation of the history of the Holocaust and the 69
history of African Americans. — 70
(1) Beginning in the 2023 -2024 school year, the department 71
shall annually verify that each school district, charter school, 72
and private school implements the instruction required under s. 73
1003.42(2)(g) and (h), relating to the history of the Holocaust 74
and the history of African Americans, efficiently and faithfully 75
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throughout the school district's, charter school's, or private 76
school's entire curriculum, as appropriate. For purposes of this 77
section, the term "private school" means a private school that 78
accepts scholarship students who participate in a scholarship 79
program under chapter 1002. 80
(2) Beginning in the 2023 -2024 school year, each school 81
district, charter school, and private school must: 82
(a) Develop, and each school board, charter school 83
governing board, and private school director or similar 84
administrator must adopt, a plan for the implementation of the 85
history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans 86
required instruction and publicize such plan in the school 87
district's, charter school 's, or private school's curriculum 88
guides and on the school district's, charter school's, or 89
private school's website. 90
(b) Develop and implement an ongoing professional 91
development plan for training instructional staff in strategies 92
for teaching the hist ory of the Holocaust and the history of 93
African Americans. The school district, charter school, or 94
private school must allocate adequate resources to structured 95
professional development programs and for enhancing the 96
instruction of the history of the Holoc aust and the history of 97
African Americans in an infused format. 98
(c) Integrate curricula for the history of the Holocaust 99
and the history of African Americans that meet the requirements 100
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of s. 1003.42(2)(g) and (h) as part of the school district's, 101
charter school's, or private school's curriculum. Such curricula 102
must be distributed to curriculum specialists, teachers, media 103
specialists, and other instructional staff. The school district, 104
charter school, or private school must ensure that adequate 105
instructional resources, including, but not limited to, books, 106
compact discs, digital media, and lesson plans, are available to 107
support such instruction. 108
(d) Include the history of the Holocaust and the history 109
of African Americans content in lesson plans for the entire 110
school year, as appropriate. 111
(e) Approve methods for teaching and assessing the history 112
of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans curricula. 113
(f) Include the history of the Holocaust and the history 114
of African Americans content in any preparations for statewide 115
assessments, as appropriate. 116
(g) Include the history of the Holocaust and the history 117
of African Americans content in all appropriate subject areas. 118
(h) Partner with a state university for the development 119
and implementation of professional development, curricula, and 120
instructional support, including jointly seeking external 121
funding and preparing teachers and other instructional staff to 122
teach the history of the Holocaust and the history of African 123
Americans. 124
(i) Develop strategies to involve parents in the 125
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implementation of the curricula for the history of the Holocaust 126
and the history of African Americans, including through 127
awareness information sessions. 128
(j) Partner with community members in the development and 129
ongoing implementation of the history of the Holocaust and the 130
history of African Americans curricula. 131
(3) By August 1, 2023, and annually thereafter, each 132
district school superintendent, charter school principal, and 133
private school director or similar administra tor shall provide 134
to the department, in a format prescribed by the department, 135
evidence of school district, charter school, and private school 136
compliance with subsection (2). If a district school 137
superintendent, charter school principal, or private school 138
director or similar administrator fails to provide such 139
evidence, he or she is subject to the following penalties: 140
(a) For a district school superintendent, his or her 141
salary must be withheld until he or she provides such evidence. 142
(b) For a charter sc hool principal, his or her charter 143
school is deemed in violation of its charter with the school 144
district until he or she provides such evidence. 145
(c) For a private school director or similar 146
administrator, his or her private school may not receive any 147
state funds from a scholarship program under chapter 1002 until 148
he or she provides such evidence. 149
(4) The State Board of Education may adopt rules to 150
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administer this section. 151
Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section 152
1008.22, Florida Statute s, is amended to read: 153
1008.22 Student assessment program for public schools. — 154
(3) STATEWIDE, STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT PROGRAM. —The 155
Commissioner of Education shall design and implement a 156
statewide, standardized assessment program aligned to the core 157
curricular content established in the Next Generation Sunshine 158
State Standards. The commissioner also must develop or select 159
and implement a common battery of assessment tools that will be 160
used in all juvenile justice education programs in the state. 161
These tools must accurately measure the core curricular content 162
established in the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards. 163
Participation in the assessment program is mandatory for all 164
school districts and all students attending public schools, 165
including adult students seeking a standard high school diploma 166
under s. 1003.4282 and students in Department of Juvenile 167
Justice education programs, except as otherwise provided by law. 168
If a student does not participate in the assessment program, the 169
school district must n otify the student's parent and provide the 170
parent with information regarding the implications of such 171
nonparticipation. The statewide, standardized assessment program 172
shall be designed and implemented as follows: 173
(a) Statewide, standardized comprehensive assessments.—The 174
statewide, standardized English Language Arts (ELA) assessments 175
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shall be administered to students in grades 3 through 10. Retake 176
opportunities for the grade 10 ELA assessment must be provided. 177
Reading passages and writing prompts for ELA assessments shall 178
incorporate grade-level core curricula content from social 179
studies and, when appropriate, curricula content from the 180
history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans . 181
The statewide, standardized Mathematics assessments shall be 182
administered annually in grades 3 through 8. The statewide, 183
standardized Science assessment shall be administered annually 184
at least once at the elementary and middle grades levels. In 185
order to earn a standard high school diploma, a student who has 186
not earned a passing score on the grade 10 ELA assessment must 187
earn a passing score on the assessment retake or earn a 188
concordant score as authorized under subsection (9). Statewide, 189
standardized ELA and Mathematics assessments in grades 3 through 190
6 must be delivered in a paper-based format. 191
Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022. 192