Title: Required Instruction in the History of the Holocaust and of African Americans

Summary: Requires DOE to prepare standards & curriculum related to history of African Americans; authorizes DOE to seek input from or contract with specified entities to develop specified training & resources relating to such instruction; provides requirements for specified entities relating to history of Holocaust & history of African Americans instruction; requires certain statewide, standardized assessments to include curricula content from history of Holocaust & history of African Americans.

Full Text:
An act relating to required instruction in the history of the Holocaust and of African Americans; amending s. 1003.42, F.S.; requiring the Department of Education to prepare and offer standards and curriculum related to the history of African Americans; au thorizing the department to seek input from certain entities for specified purposes; authorizing the department to seek input from or contract with specified entities to develop specified training and resources; creating s. 1003.4551, F.S.; requiring the Department of Education to annually verify that school districts, charter schools, and specified private schools implement certain instruction relating to the history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans; providing requirements for school districts, charter schools, and specified private schools relating to such instruction; providing district school board, charter school governing board, and private school director or similar administrator requirements; requiring district school superintend ents, charter school principals, and private school directors or similar administrators to annually provide specified evidence to the department by a certain date; providing penalties if he or she fails to provide such HB 2021 evidence; authorizing the State Board of Education to adopt rules; amending s. 1008.22, F.S.; requiring certain statewide, standardized assessments to include curricula content from the history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans; providing an effective date. Be It Enac ted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Paragraph (h) of subsection (2) of section 1003.42, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 1003.42 Required instruction.-(2) Members of the instructional staff of the public schools, subje ct to the rules of the State Board of Education and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and faithfully, using the books and materials required that meet the highest standards for professionalism and historical accuracy, following the prescri bed courses of study, and employing approved methods of instruction, the following: (h) The history of African Americans, including the history of African peoples before the political conflicts that led to the development of slavery, the passage to Ameri ca, the enslavement experience, abolition, and the contributions of African Americans to society. Instructional materials shall include the contributions of African Americans to American HB 2021 society. The department shall prepare and offer standards and curriculum for the instruction required by this paragraph and may seek input from the Commissioner of Education's African American History Task Force or from any state or nationally recognized African American history educational organizations. The department may seek input from the Commissioner of Education's African American History Task Force or contract with a recognized museum of African American history to develop training for instructional personnel and grade-appropriate classroom resources to support the developed curriculum. The State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards and pursue assessment of the requirements of this subsection. A character development program that incorporates the values of the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor and that is offered as part of a social studies, English Language Arts, or other schoolwide character building and veteran awareness initiative meets the requirements of paragraphs (s) and (t). Section 2. Section 1003.4551, Florida Statutes, is cr eated to read: 1003.4551 School district, charter school, and private school implementation of the history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans.-(1) Beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, the department shall annually verify that eac hschool district, charter school, HB 2021 and private school implements the instruction required under s. 1003.42(2)(g) and (h), relating to the history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans, efficiently and faithfully throughout the school distri ct's, charter school's, or private school's entire curriculum, as appropriate. For purposes of this section, the term "private school" means a private school that accepts scholarship students who participate in a scholarship program under chapter 1002. (2) Beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, each school district, charter school, and private school must: (a) Develop, and each school board, charter school governing board, and private school director or similar administrator must adopt, a plan for the implementation of the history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans required instruction and publicize such plan in the school district's, charter school's, or private school's curriculum guides and on the school district's, charter school' s, or private school's website. (b) Develop and implement an ongoing professional development plan for training instructional staff in strategies for teaching the history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans. The school district, charter school, or private school must allocate adequate resources to structured professional development programs and for enhancing the instruction of the history of the Holocaust and the history of HB 2021 African Americans in an infused format. (c) Integrate curricula for the history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans that meet the requirements of s. 1003.42(2)(g) and (h) as part of the school district's, charter school's, or private school's curriculum. Such curricula must be distributed to curriculum specialists, teachers, media specialists, and other instructional staff. The school district, charter school, or private school must ensure that adequate instructional resources, including, but not limited to, books, compact discs, digital medi a, and lesson plans, are available to support such instruction. (d) Include the history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans content in lesson plans for the entire school year, as appropriate. (e) Approve methods for teaching and asses sing the history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans curricula. (f) Include the history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans content in any preparations for statewide assessments, when appropriate. (g) Include the his tory of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans content in all appropriate subject areas. (h) Partner with a state university for the development and implementation of professional development, curricula, and instructional support, including jointly seeking external funding and preparing teachers and other instructional staff to HB 2021 teach the history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans. (i) Develop strategies to involve parents in the implementation of the curricula for the hist ory of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans, including through awareness information sessions. (j) Partner with community members in the development and ongoing implementation of the history of the Holocaust and the history of African Ameri cans curricula. (3) By August 1, 2022, and annually thereafter, each district school superintendent, charter school principal, and private school director or similar administrator shall provide to the department, in a format prescribed by the department, evidence of school district, charter school, and private school compliance with subsection (2). If a district school superintendent, charter school principal, or private school director or similar administrator fails to provide such evidence, he or she is subject to the following penalties: (a) For a district school superintendent, his or her salary must be withheld until he or she provides such evidence. (b) For a charter school principal, his or her charter school is deemed in violation of its charte rwith the school district until he or she provides such evidence. (c) For a private school director or similar administrator, his or her private school may not receive any HB 2021 state funds from a scholarship program under chapter 1002 until he or she provide ssuch evidence. (4) The State Board of Education may adopt rules to administer this section. Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section 1008.22, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 1008.22 Student assessment program for public schools.-(3) STATEWIDE, STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT PROGRAM.-The Commissioner of Education shall design and implement a statewide, standardized assessment program aligned to the core curricular content established in the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards. The commissioner also must develop or select and implement a common battery of assessment tools that will be used in all juvenile justice education programs in the state. These tools must accurately measure the core curricular content established in the Nex tGeneration Sunshine State Standards. Participation in the assessment program is mandatory for all school districts and all students attending public schools, including adult students seeking a standard high school diploma under s. 1003.4282 and students in Department of Juvenile Justice education programs, except as otherwise provided by law. If a student does not participate in the assessment program, the school district must notify the student's parent and provide the parent with information regarding the implications of such nonparticipation. The statewide, standardized assessment program HB 2021 shall be designed and implemented as follows: (a) Statewide, standardized comprehensive assessments.-The statewide, standardized Reading assessment shall be administ ered annually in grades through 10. The statewide, standardized Writing assessment shall be administered annually at least once at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. When the Reading and Writing assessments are replaced by English Language Arts (ELA) assessments, ELA assessments shall be administered to students in grades through 10. Retake opportunities for the grade Reading assessment or, upon implementation, the grade ELA assessment must be provided. Students taking the ELA assessments shall not take the statewide, standardized assessments in Reading or Writing. Reading passages and writing prompts for ELA assessments shall incorporate grade-level core curricula content from social studies and, when appropriate, curricula content fr om the history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans.The statewide, standardized Mathematics assessments shall be administered annually in grades through 8. Students taking a revised Mathematics assessment shall not take the discontinued assessment. The statewide, standardized Science assessment shall be administered annually at least once at the elementary and middle grades levels. In order to earn a standard high school diploma, a student who has not earned a passing score on the grade Reading assessment or, upon implementation, the grade ELA assessment must earn a HB 2021 passing score on the assessment retake or earn a concordant score as authorized under subsection (9). Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.