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A01948 Summary:

BILL NOA01948
 
SAME ASNo Same As
 
SPONSORStern
 
COSPNSR
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd §801, add §801-b, Ed L
 
Provides specific requirements for a course of instruction relating to the Holocaust and genocide.
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A01948 Actions:

BILL NOA01948
 
01/23/2023referred to education
01/03/2024referred to education
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A01948 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A1948
 
SPONSOR: Stern
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the education law, in relation to requirements for a course of instruction relating to the Holocaust and genocide   PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To require a course of education relating to the Holocaust and genocide.   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1: Amends Subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 801 of the education law, as amended by section 27 of part A of chapter 56 of the laws of 2020. Section 2: Adds a new section 801-b to the education law. Section 3: Sets the effective date.   JUSTIFICATION: Over 75 years have passed since the Allied victory over Nazi Germany and as the number of Holocaust survivors who can provide personal witness to the horrors of the Holocaust diminishes, it becomes especially critical to provide a meaningful and historically accurate course of instruction to our young people about the Holocaust and genocide. This course of instruction shall also include, but not be limited to other acts of genocide across the globe. During the Holocaust, from 1933-1945, more than six million Jewish people, including one and a half million Jewish children and millions of non-Jews were exterminated. Recently there has a been a precipitous rise in hate crimes, many targeting Jewish people in New York State and across the country and world. Many people have little to no knowledge of the events of the Holocaust or deny that it is a historical fact. This education will serve to combat hate and ensure a reaffirmation of the commitment to never again permit the occurrence of another Holocaust, to acknowledge on-going acts of genocide and to promote understanding and tolerance for people of all races, faiths, nationalities and ethnicities.   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2021-2022: A4743 - Referred to Education 2020: A9710 - Referred to Education   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined.   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
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A01948 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          1948
 
                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 23, 2023
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by M. of A. STERN -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Education
 
        AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation  to  requirements  for  a
          course of instruction relating to the Holocaust and genocide
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 801 of the  education  law,
     2  as  amended  by  section 27 of part A of chapter 56 of the laws of 2020,
     3  are amended to read as follows:
     4    1. In order to promote a spirit of patriotic  and  civic  service  and
     5  obligation  and  to foster in the children of the state moral and intel-
     6  lectual qualities which are essential in preparing  to  meet  the  obli-
     7  gations of citizenship in peace or in war, the regents of The University
     8  of  the  State  of  New  York  shall prescribe courses of instruction in
     9  patriotism, citizenship, civic education and values, our shared  history
    10  of diversity, the role of religious tolerance in this country, and human
    11  rights  issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity
    12  of genocide, slavery (including the freedom trail and underground  rail-
    13  road),  the  Holocaust,  and the mass starvation in Ireland from 1845 to
    14  1850, in accordance with section eight hundred one-b of this article, to
    15  be maintained and followed in all the schools of the state.  The  boards
    16  of  education and trustees of the several cities and school districts of
    17  the state shall require instruction to be given in such courses, by  the
    18  teachers  employed  in  the  schools  therein. All pupils attending such
    19  schools, over the age of eight years, shall attend  upon  such  instruc-
    20  tion.
    21    Similar  courses  of instruction shall be prescribed and maintained in
    22  private schools in the state, and all pupils in such schools over  eight
    23  years  of age shall attend upon such courses. If such courses are not so
    24  established and maintained in a private school, attendance upon instruc-
    25  tion in such school shall not  be  deemed  substantially  equivalent  to
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02380-01-3

        A. 1948                             2
 
     1  instruction  given  to  pupils  of like age in the public schools of the
     2  city or district in which such pupils reside.
     3    3.  The  regents  shall  determine the subjects to be included in such
     4  courses of instruction in patriotism, citizenship, civic  education  and
     5  values, our shared history of diversity, the role of history of diversi-
     6  ty,  the  role  of religious tolerance in this country, and human rights
     7  issues, with particular attention to the  study  of  the  inhumanity  of
     8  genocide,  slavery  (including  the  freedom trail and underground rail-
     9  road), the Holocaust, and the mass starvation in Ireland  from  1845  to
    10  1850,  in  accordance  with section eight hundred one-b of this article,
    11  and in the history, meaning, significance and effect of  the  provisions
    12  of  the  constitution  of the United States, the amendments thereto, the
    13  declaration of independence, the constitution of the state of  New  York
    14  and the amendments thereto, and the period of instruction in each of the
    15  grades in such subjects. They shall adopt rules providing for attendance
    16  upon  such  instruction  and  for such other matters as are required for
    17  carrying into effect the objects  and  purposes  of  this  section.  The
    18  commissioner  shall  be  responsible for the enforcement of such section
    19  and shall cause to be inspected and  supervise  the  instruction  to  be
    20  given  in  such subjects. The commissioner may, in his discretion, cause
    21  all or a portion of the public school  money  to  be  apportioned  to  a
    22  district or city to be withheld for failure of the school authorities of
    23  such  district  or  city  to  provide instruction in such courses and to
    24  compel attendance upon such instruction, as herein prescribed, and for a
    25  non-compliance with the rules of the regents adopted as herein provided.
    26    § 2. The education law is amended by adding a  new  section  801-b  to
    27  read as follows:
    28    §  801-b.  Instruction  relating  to the Holocaust and genocide. Every
    29  public elementary school and high school shall include in its curriculum
    30  a unit of instruction studying the events of the Nazi atrocities of 1933
    31  to 1945. This period in world history is known as the Holocaust,  during
    32  which  six  million  Jewish  people,  including one and one-half million
    33  Jewish children, and millions of non-Jews were exterminated. One of  the
    34  universal  lessons of the Holocaust is that national, ethnic, racial, or
    35  religious  hatred can overtake any nation or society, leading to calami-
    36  tous consequences. To  reinforce  that  lesson,  such  curriculum  shall
    37  include  an  additional unit of instruction studying other acts of geno-
    38  cide across the globe.  This unit shall include, but not be limited  to,
    39  the  Armenian  Genocide, the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine, and more recent
    40  atrocities in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Sudan. The studying of  this
    41  material  is  a reaffirmation of the commitment of free peoples from all
    42  nations to never again  permit the occurrence of another Holocaust and a
    43  recognition that crimes of genocide continue to  be  perpetrated  across
    44  the  globe  as  they  have been in the past and to deter indifference to
    45  crimes against humanity and human suffering wherever they may occur. The
    46  commissioner may  prepare  and  make  available  to  all  school  boards
    47  instructional materials which may be used as guidelines  for development
    48  of  a  unit  of  instruction under this section; provided, however, that
    49  each school  board shall itself determine the minimum amount of instruc-
    50  tion time which shall qualify as a unit of  instruction  satisfying  the
    51  requirements of this section. The cost for instructional materials is to
    52  be borne by the department.
    53    §  3.  This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
    54  the date on which it shall have become a law.
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