Florida Senate - 2011                                    SB 1854
       
       
       
       By Senator Wise
       
       
       
       
       5-01631-11                                            20111854__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to required instruction in the public
    3         schools; amending s. 1003.42, F.S.; requiring that the
    4         instructional staff of a public school teach a
    5         thorough presentation and critical analysis of the
    6         scientific theory of evolution and certain
    7         governmental, legal, and civic-related principles;
    8         revising the curriculum of the character-development
    9         program required for students in kindergarten through
   10         grade 12 and requiring school districts to annually
   11         inform certain personnel of that curriculum; amending
   12         s. 1006.148, F.S.; conforming a cross-reference;
   13         providing an effective date.
   14  
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16  
   17         Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 1003.42, Florida
   18  Statutes, is amended to read:
   19         1003.42 Required instruction.—
   20         (2) Members of the instructional staff of the public
   21  schools, subject to the rules of the State Board of Education
   22  and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and
   23  faithfully, using the books and materials required to that meet
   24  the highest standards for professionalism and historic accuracy,
   25  following the prescribed courses of study, and employing
   26  approved methods of instruction, the following:
   27         (a)A thorough presentation and critical analysis of the
   28  scientific theory of evolution.
   29         (b)(a) The history and content of the Declaration of
   30  Independence, including national sovereignty, natural law, self
   31  evident truth, equality of all persons, limited government,
   32  popular sovereignty, and inalienable rights of life, liberty,
   33  and property, and how they form the philosophical foundation of
   34  our government.
   35         (c)(b) The history, meaning, significance, and effect of
   36  the provisions of the Constitution of the United States and
   37  amendments thereto, with emphasis on each of the 10 amendments
   38  that make up the Bill of Rights and how the constitution
   39  provides the structure of our government.
   40         (d)(c) The arguments in support of adopting our republican
   41  form of government, as they are embodied in the most important
   42  of the Federalist Papers.
   43         (e)(d) Flag education, including proper flag display and
   44  flag salute.
   45         (f)(e) The elements of civil government, including the
   46  primary functions of and interrelationships between the Federal
   47  Government, the state, and its counties, municipalities, school
   48  districts, and special districts.
   49         (g)The historical context in which the Declaration of
   50  Independence was drafted and signed; the purposes, functions,
   51  and limitations of the legislative, executive, and judicial
   52  branches of the federal, state, and local governments; the
   53  significance of common law, state and federal constitutional
   54  law, statutory law, procedural law, and local ordinances or
   55  codes; an understanding of important legal principles, including
   56  the rule of law, stare decisis, and the federal supremacy
   57  clause; and the duties that all citizens share in order to know
   58  and protect the rule of law.
   59         (h)(f) The history of the United States, including the
   60  period of discovery, early colonies, the War for Independence,
   61  the Civil War, the expansion of the United States to its present
   62  boundaries, the world wars, and the civil rights movement to the
   63  present. American history shall be viewed as factual, not as
   64  constructed, shall be viewed as knowable, teachable, and
   65  testable, and shall be defined as the creation of a new nation
   66  based largely on the universal principles stated in the
   67  Declaration of Independence.
   68         (i)(g) The history of the Holocaust (1933-1945), the
   69  systematic, planned annihilation of European Jews and other
   70  groups by Nazi Germany, a watershed event in the history of
   71  humanity, to be taught in a manner that leads to an
   72  investigation of human behavior, an understanding of the
   73  ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping, and an
   74  examination of what it means to be a responsible and respectful
   75  person, for the purposes of encouraging tolerance of diversity
   76  in a pluralistic society and for nurturing and protecting
   77  democratic values and institutions.
   78         (j)(h) The history of African Americans, including the
   79  history of African peoples before the political conflicts that
   80  led to the development of slavery, the passage to America, the
   81  enslavement experience, abolition, and the contributions of
   82  African Americans to society. Instructional materials shall
   83  include the contributions of African Americans to American
   84  society.
   85         (k)(i) The elementary principles of agriculture.
   86         (l)(j) The true effects of all alcoholic and intoxicating
   87  liquors and beverages and narcotics upon the human body and
   88  mind.
   89         (m)(k) Kindness to animals.
   90         (n)(l) The history of the state.
   91         (o)(m) The conservation of natural resources.
   92         (p)(n) Comprehensive health education that addresses
   93  concepts of community health; consumer health; environmental
   94  health; family life, including an awareness of the benefits of
   95  sexual abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences
   96  of teenage pregnancy; mental and emotional health; injury
   97  prevention and safety; nutrition; personal health; prevention
   98  and control of disease; and substance use and abuse. The health
   99  education curriculum for students in grades 7 through 12 shall
  100  include a teen dating violence and abuse component that
  101  includes, but is not limited to, the definition of dating
  102  violence and abuse, the warning signs of dating violence and
  103  abusive behavior, the characteristics of healthy relationships,
  104  measures to prevent and stop dating violence and abuse, and
  105  community resources available to victims of dating violence and
  106  abuse.
  107         (q)(o) Such additional materials, subjects, courses, or
  108  fields in such grades as are prescribed by law or by rules of
  109  the State Board of Education and the district school board in
  110  fulfilling the requirements of law.
  111         (r)(p) The study of Hispanic contributions to the United
  112  States.
  113         (s)(q) The study of women’s contributions to the United
  114  States.
  115         (t)(r) The nature and importance of free enterprise to the
  116  United States economy.
  117         (u)(s) A character-development program in kindergarten
  118  through grade 12 the elementary schools, similar to Character
  119  First or Character Counts, which is secular in nature. The
  120  program must emphasize the core values of honesty, virtue, moral
  121  courage, dignity of honest labor, patriotism, self-discipline,
  122  self-respect, perseverance, duty, honor, compassion, charity,
  123  conflict-resolution management, peer mediation, and other
  124  qualities of character that better prepare students to recognize
  125  and accept the responsibility for preserving the blessings of
  126  liberty inherited from prior generations. The goal is for these
  127  core values to be integrated into primary classroom instruction
  128  for students in kindergarten through grade 5. Beginning in
  129  school year 2004-2005, the character-development program shall
  130  be required in kindergarten through grade 12. Each district
  131  school board shall develop or adopt a curriculum for the
  132  character-development program that shall be submitted to the
  133  department for approval. Each school district shall inform its
  134  principals, administrators, teachers, and any other appropriate
  135  school personnel of this paragraph at the beginning of each
  136  school year. The character-development curriculum shall stress
  137  the qualities of patriotism; responsibility; citizenship;
  138  kindness; respect for authority, life, liberty, and personal
  139  property; honesty; charity; self-control; racial, ethnic, and
  140  religious tolerance; and cooperation.
  141         (v)(t) In order to encourage patriotism, the sacrifices
  142  that veterans have made in serving our country and protecting
  143  democratic values worldwide. Such instruction must occur on or
  144  before Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day. Members of the
  145  instructional staff are encouraged to use the assistance of
  146  local veterans when practicable.
  147  
  148  The State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards
  149  and pursue assessment of the requirements of this subsection.
  150         Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 1006.148, Florida
  151  Statutes, is amended to read:
  152         1006.148 Dating violence and abuse prohibited.—
  153         (1) Each district school board shall adopt and implement a
  154  dating violence and abuse policy. The policy shall:
  155         (a) Prohibit dating violence and abuse by any student on
  156  school property, during a school-sponsored activity, or during
  157  school-sponsored transportation.
  158         (b) Provide procedures for responding to such incidents of
  159  dating violence or abuse, including accommodations for students
  160  experiencing dating violence or abuse.
  161         (c) Define dating violence and abuse and provide for a teen
  162  dating violence and abuse component in the health education
  163  curriculum, according to s. 1003.42(2)(p) s. 1003.42(2)(n), with
  164  emphasis on prevention education.
  165         (d) Be implemented in a manner that is integrated with a
  166  school district’s discipline policies.
  167         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.