Florida Senate - 2022                                    SB 1398
       
       
        
       By Senator Berman
       
       
       
       
       
       31-01471-22                                           20221398__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to required instruction in the history
    3         of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans;
    4         amending s. 1003.42, F.S.; requiring the Department of
    5         Education to prepare and offer standards and
    6         curriculum related to the history of African
    7         Americans; authorizing the department to seek input
    8         from certain entities for specified purposes;
    9         authorizing the department to seek input from or
   10         contract with specified entities to develop specified
   11         training and resources; creating s. 1003.4551, F.S.;
   12         requiring the department to annually verify that
   13         school districts, charter schools, and specified
   14         private schools implement certain instruction relating
   15         to the history of the Holocaust and the history of
   16         African Americans and providing requirements therefor;
   17         requiring district school superintendents, charter
   18         school principals, and private school directors or
   19         similar administrators to annually provide specified
   20         evidence to the department by a certain date;
   21         providing penalties for failure to provide such
   22         evidence; authorizing the State Board of Education to
   23         adopt rules; amending s. 1008.22, F.S.; requiring
   24         certain statewide, standardized assessments to include
   25         curricula content from the history of the Holocaust
   26         and the history of African Americans; providing an
   27         effective date.
   28          
   29  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   30  
   31         Section 1. Paragraph (h) of subsection (2) of section
   32  1003.42, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   33         1003.42 Required instruction.—
   34         (2) Members of the instructional staff of the public
   35  schools, subject to the rules of the State Board of Education
   36  and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and
   37  faithfully, using the books and materials required that meet the
   38  highest standards for professionalism and historical accuracy,
   39  following the prescribed courses of study, and employing
   40  approved methods of instruction, the following:
   41         (h) The history of African Americans, including the history
   42  of African peoples before the political conflicts that led to
   43  the development of slavery, the passage to America, the
   44  enslavement experience, abolition, and the contributions of
   45  African Americans to society. Instructional materials shall
   46  include the contributions of African Americans to American
   47  society. The department shall develop and offer standards and
   48  curriculum for the instruction required by this paragraph and
   49  may seek input from the Commissioner of Education’s African
   50  American History Task Force or from any state or nationally
   51  recognized African American history educational organization
   52  during the development of such standards and curriculum. The
   53  department may also seek input from the Commissioner of
   54  Education’s African American History Task Force or contract with
   55  a recognized museum of African American history to develop
   56  training for instructional staff and grade-appropriate classroom
   57  resources to support the developed curriculum.
   58  
   59  The State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards
   60  and pursue assessment of the requirements of this subsection. A
   61  character development program that incorporates the values of
   62  the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor and that is
   63  offered as part of a social studies, English Language Arts, or
   64  other schoolwide character building and veteran awareness
   65  initiative meets the requirements of paragraphs (s) and (t).
   66         Section 2. Section 1003.4551, Florida Statutes, is created
   67  to read:
   68         1003.4551School district, charter school, and private
   69  school implementation of the history of the Holocaust and the
   70  history of African Americans.—
   71         (1)Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, the department
   72  shall annually verify that each school district, charter school,
   73  and private school implements the instruction required under s.
   74  1003.42(2)(g) and (h), relating to the history of the Holocaust
   75  and the history of African Americans, efficiently and faithfully
   76  throughout the school district’s, charter school’s, or private
   77  school’s entire curriculum, as appropriate. For purposes of this
   78  section, the term “private school” means a private school that
   79  accepts scholarship students who participate in a scholarship
   80  program under chapter 1002.
   81         (2)Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, each school
   82  district, charter school, and private school must:
   83         (a)Develop, and each district school board, charter school
   84  governing board, and private school director or similar
   85  administrator must adopt, a plan for the implementation of the
   86  history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans
   87  required instruction and publicize such plan in the school
   88  district’s, charter school’s, or private school’s curriculum
   89  guides and on the school district’s, charter school’s, or
   90  private school’s website.
   91         (b)Develop and implement an ongoing professional
   92  development plan for training instructional staff in strategies
   93  for teaching the history of the Holocaust and the history of
   94  African Americans. The school district, charter school, or
   95  private school must allocate adequate resources to structured
   96  professional development programs and for enhancing the
   97  instruction of the history of the Holocaust and the history of
   98  African Americans in an infused format.
   99         (c)Integrate curricula for the history of the Holocaust
  100  and the history of African Americans which meet the requirements
  101  of s. 1003.42(2)(g) and (h) as part of the school district’s,
  102  charter school’s, or private school’s curriculum. Such curricula
  103  must be distributed to curriculum specialists, teachers, media
  104  specialists, and other instructional staff. The school district,
  105  charter school, or private school must ensure that adequate
  106  instructional resources, including, but not limited to, books,
  107  compact discs, digital media, and lesson plans, are available to
  108  support such instruction.
  109         (d)Include the history of the Holocaust and the history of
  110  African Americans content in lesson plans for the entire school
  111  year, as appropriate.
  112         (e)Approve methods for teaching and assessing the history
  113  of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans curricula.
  114         (f)Include the history of the Holocaust and the history of
  115  African Americans content in any preparations for statewide
  116  assessments, as appropriate.
  117         (g)Include the history of the Holocaust and the history of
  118  African Americans content in all appropriate subject areas.
  119         (h)Partner with a state university for the development and
  120  implementation of professional development, curricula, and
  121  instructional support, including jointly seeking external
  122  funding and preparing teachers and other instructional staff to
  123  teach the history of the Holocaust and the history of African
  124  Americans.
  125         (i)Develop strategies to involve parents in the
  126  implementation of the curricula for the history of the Holocaust
  127  and the history of African Americans, including through
  128  awareness information sessions.
  129         (j)Partner with community members in the development and
  130  ongoing implementation of the history of the Holocaust and the
  131  history of African Americans curricula. To better connect
  132  students to the study of African American history and allow
  133  students to experience places, artifacts, and activities that
  134  authentically represent and are connected to our nation’s
  135  African American history, members of the instructional staff are
  136  encouraged to include the use of the United States National Park
  137  Service’s Teaching with Historic Places curriculum and tours of
  138  locations listed on the National Register of Historic Places,
  139  houses, parks, and cemeteries, in the study of the history of
  140  African Americans when practicable.
  141         (3)By August 1, 2023, and annually thereafter, each
  142  district school superintendent, charter school principal, and
  143  private school director or similar administrator shall provide
  144  to the department, in a format prescribed by the department,
  145  evidence of school district, charter school, and private school
  146  compliance with subsection (2). If a district school
  147  superintendent, charter school principal, or private school
  148  director or similar administrator fails to provide such
  149  evidence, he or she is subject to the following penalties:
  150         (a)For a district school superintendent, he or she must
  151  provide a written explanation to the district school board and
  152  the Commissioner of Education to explain the district school
  153  superintendent’s failure to provide such evidence.
  154         (b)For a charter school principal, his or her charter
  155  school is deemed in violation of its charter with the school
  156  district until he or she provides such evidence.
  157         (c)For a private school director or similar administrator,
  158  his or her private school may not receive any state funds from a
  159  scholarship program under chapter 1002 until he or she provides
  160  such evidence.
  161         (4)The State Board of Education may adopt rules to
  162  administer this section.
  163         Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section
  164  1008.22, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
  165         1008.22 Student assessment program for public schools.—
  166         (3) STATEWIDE, STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT PROGRAM.—The
  167  Commissioner of Education shall design and implement a
  168  statewide, standardized assessment program aligned to the core
  169  curricular content established in the Next Generation Sunshine
  170  State Standards. The commissioner also must develop or select
  171  and implement a common battery of assessment tools that will be
  172  used in all juvenile justice education programs in the state.
  173  These tools must accurately measure the core curricular content
  174  established in the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards.
  175  Participation in the assessment program is mandatory for all
  176  school districts and all students attending public schools,
  177  including adult students seeking a standard high school diploma
  178  under s. 1003.4282 and students in Department of Juvenile
  179  Justice education programs, except as otherwise provided by law.
  180  If a student does not participate in the assessment program, the
  181  school district must notify the student’s parent and provide the
  182  parent with information regarding the implications of such
  183  nonparticipation. The statewide, standardized assessment program
  184  shall be designed and implemented as follows:
  185         (a) Statewide, standardized comprehensive assessments.—The
  186  statewide, standardized English Language Arts (ELA) assessments
  187  shall be administered to students in grades 3 through 10. Retake
  188  opportunities for the grade 10 ELA assessment must be provided.
  189  Reading passages and writing prompts for ELA assessments shall
  190  incorporate grade-level core curricula content from social
  191  studies and, when appropriate, curricula content from the
  192  history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans.
  193  The statewide, standardized Mathematics assessments shall be
  194  administered annually in grades 3 through 8. The statewide,
  195  standardized Science assessment shall be administered annually
  196  at least once at the elementary and middle grades levels. In
  197  order to earn a standard high school diploma, a student who has
  198  not earned a passing score on the grade 10 ELA assessment must
  199  earn a passing score on the assessment retake or earn a
  200  concordant score as authorized under subsection (9). Statewide,
  201  standardized ELA and Mathematics assessments in grades 3 through
  202  6 must be delivered in a paper-based format.
  203         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.