Florida Senate - 2023 SB 1008
By Senator Thompson
15-00084B-23 20231008__
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.; authorizing the Department
5 of Education to seek input from certain entities for
6 specified purposes relating to instruction in the
7 history of African Americans; authorizing the
8 department to seek input from or contract with
9 specified entities to develop specified training and
10 resources; creating s. 1003.4551, F.S.; requiring the
11 department to annually verify that school districts,
12 charter schools, and specified private schools
13 implement certain instruction relating to the history
14 of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans
15 and providing requirements therefor; requiring
16 district school superintendents, charter school
17 principals, and private school directors or similar
18 administrators to annually provide specified evidence
19 to the department by a certain date; providing
20 penalties for failure to provide such evidence;
21 authorizing the State Board of Education to adopt
22 rules; amending s. 1008.22, F.S.; requiring certain
23 statewide, standardized assessments to include
24 curricula content from the history of the Holocaust
25 and the history of African Americans; providing an
26 effective date.
27
28 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
29
30 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 staff 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 accuracy,
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 history
41 of African peoples before the political conflicts that led to
42 the development of slavery, the passage to America, the
43 enslavement experience, abolition, and the history and
44 contributions of Americans of the African diaspora to society.
45 Students shall develop an understanding of the ramifications of
46 prejudice, racism, and stereotyping on individual freedoms, and
47 examine what it means to be a responsible and respectful person,
48 for the purpose of encouraging tolerance of diversity in a
49 pluralistic society and for nurturing and protecting democratic
50 values and institutions. Instruction shall include the roles and
51 contributions of individuals from all walks of life and their
52 endeavors to learn and thrive throughout history as artists,
53 scientists, educators, businesspeople, influential thinkers,
54 members of the faith community, and political and governmental
55 leaders and the courageous steps they took to fulfill the
56 promise of democracy and unite the nation. Instructional
57 materials shall include the vital contributions of African
58 Americans to build and strengthen American society and celebrate
59 the inspirational stories of African Americans who prospered,
60 even in the most difficult circumstances. Instructional
61 personnel may facilitate discussions and use curricula to
62 address, in an age-appropriate manner, how the individual
63 freedoms of persons have been infringed by slavery, racial
64 oppression, racial segregation, and racial discrimination, as
65 well as topics relating to the enactment and enforcement of laws
66 resulting in racial oppression, racial segregation, and racial
67 discrimination and how recognition of these freedoms has
68 overturned these unjust laws. However, classroom instruction and
69 curriculum may not be used to indoctrinate or persuade students
70 to a particular point of view inconsistent with the principles
71 enumerated in subsection (3) or the state academic standards.
72 The department shall prepare and offer standards and curriculum
73 for the instruction required by this paragraph and may seek
74 input from the Commissioner of Education’s African American
75 History Task Force or from any state or nationally recognized
76 African-American history educational organization during the
77 preparation of such standards and curriculum. The department may
78 also seek input from the Commissioner of Education’s African
79 American History Task Force or contract with a recognized museum
80 of African-American history to develop training for
81 instructional staff and grade-appropriate classroom resources to
82 support the developed curriculum.
83
84 The State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards
85 and pursue assessment of the requirements of this subsection.
86 Instructional programming that incorporates the values of the
87 recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor and that is
88 offered as part of a social studies, English Language Arts, or
89 other schoolwide character building and veteran awareness
90 initiative meets the requirements of paragraph (t).
91 Section 2. Section 1003.4551, Florida Statutes, is created
92 to read:
93 1003.4551 School district, charter school, and private
94 school implementation of the history of the Holocaust and the
95 history of African Americans.—
96 (1) Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, the department
97 shall annually verify that each school district, charter school,
98 and private school implements the instruction required under s.
99 1003.42(2)(g) and (h), relating to the history of the Holocaust
100 and the history of African Americans, efficiently and faithfully
101 throughout the school district’s, charter school’s, or private
102 school’s entire curriculum, as appropriate. For purposes of this
103 section, the term “private school” means a private school that
104 accepts scholarship students who participate in a scholarship
105 program under chapter 1002.
106 (2) Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, each school
107 district, charter school, and private school must:
108 (a) Develop, and each district school board, charter school
109 governing board, and private school director or similar
110 administrator must adopt, a plan for the implementation of the
111 history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans
112 required instruction and publicize such plan in the school
113 district’s, charter school’s, or private school’s curriculum
114 guides and on the school district’s, charter school’s, or
115 private school’s website.
116 (b) Develop and implement an ongoing professional
117 development plan for training instructional staff in strategies
118 for teaching the history of the Holocaust and the history of
119 African Americans. The school district, charter school, or
120 private school must allocate adequate resources to structured
121 professional development programs and for enhancing the
122 instruction of the history of the Holocaust and the history of
123 African Americans in an infused format.
124 (c) Integrate curricula for the history of the Holocaust
125 and the history of African Americans which meet the requirements
126 of s. 1003.42(2)(g) and (h) as part of the school district’s,
127 charter school’s, or private school’s curriculum. Such curricula
128 must be distributed to curriculum specialists, teachers, media
129 specialists, and other instructional staff. The school district,
130 charter school, or private school must ensure that adequate
131 instructional resources, including, but not limited to, books,
132 compact discs, digital media, and lesson plans, are available to
133 support such instruction.
134 (d) Include the history of the Holocaust and the history of
135 African Americans content in lesson plans for the entire school
136 year, as appropriate.
137 (e) Approve methods for teaching and assessing the history
138 of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans curricula.
139 (f) Include the history of the Holocaust and the history of
140 African Americans content in any preparations for statewide
141 assessments, as appropriate.
142 (g) Include the history of the Holocaust and the history of
143 African Americans content in all appropriate subject areas.
144 (h) Partner with a state university for the development and
145 implementation of professional development, curricula, and
146 instructional support, including jointly seeking external
147 funding and preparing teachers and other instructional staff to
148 teach the history of the Holocaust and the history of African
149 Americans.
150 (i) Develop strategies to involve parents in the
151 implementation of the curricula for the history of the Holocaust
152 and the history of African Americans, including through
153 awareness information sessions.
154 (j) Partner with community members in the development and
155 ongoing implementation of the history of the Holocaust and the
156 history of African Americans curricula. To better connect
157 students to the study of African-American history and allow
158 students to experience places, artifacts, and activities that
159 authentically represent and are connected to our nation’s
160 African-American history, members of the instructional staff are
161 encouraged to include the use of the United States National Park
162 Service’s Teaching with Historic Places curriculum and tours of
163 locations listed on the National Register of Historic Places,
164 houses, parks, and cemeteries, in the study of the history of
165 African Americans when practicable.
166 (3) By August 1, 2024, and annually thereafter, each
167 district school superintendent, charter school principal, and
168 private school director or similar administrator shall provide
169 to the department, in a format prescribed by the department,
170 evidence of school district, charter school, and private school
171 compliance with subsection (2). If a district school
172 superintendent, charter school principal, or private school
173 director or similar administrator fails to provide such
174 evidence, he or she is subject to the following penalties:
175 (a) For a district school superintendent, he or she must
176 provide a written explanation to the district school board and
177 the Commissioner of Education to explain the district school
178 superintendent’s failure to provide such evidence.
179 (b) For a charter school principal, his or her charter
180 school is deemed in violation of its charter with the school
181 district until he or she provides such evidence.
182 (c) For a private school director or similar administrator,
183 his or her private school may not receive any state funds from a
184 scholarship program under chapter 1002 until he or she provides
185 such evidence.
186 (4) The State Board of Education may adopt rules to
187 administer this section.
188 Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section
189 1008.22, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
190 1008.22 Student assessment program for public schools.—
191 (3) STATEWIDE, STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT PROGRAM.—The
192 Commissioner of Education shall design and implement a
193 statewide, standardized assessment program aligned to the core
194 curricular content established in the state academic standards.
195 The commissioner also must develop or select and implement a
196 common battery of assessment tools that will be used in all
197 juvenile justice education programs in the state. These tools
198 must accurately measure the core curricular content established
199 in the state academic standards. Participation in the assessment
200 program is mandatory for all school districts and all students
201 attending public schools, including adult students seeking a
202 standard high school diploma under s. 1003.4282 and students in
203 Department of Juvenile Justice education programs, except as
204 otherwise provided by law. If a student does not participate in
205 the assessment program, the school district must notify the
206 student’s parent and provide the parent with information
207 regarding the implications of such nonparticipation. The
208 statewide, standardized assessment program shall be designed and
209 implemented as follows:
210 (a) Statewide, standardized comprehensive assessments.—
211 1. The statewide, standardized English Language Arts (ELA)
212 assessments shall be administered to students in grades 3
213 through 10. Retake opportunities for the grade 10 ELA assessment
214 must be provided. Reading passages and writing prompts for ELA
215 assessments shall incorporate grade-level core curricula content
216 from social studies and, when appropriate, curricula content
217 from the history of the Holocaust and the history of African
218 Americans. The statewide, standardized Mathematics assessments
219 shall be administered annually in grades 3 through 8. The
220 statewide, standardized Science assessment shall be administered
221 annually at least once at the elementary and middle grades
222 levels. In order to earn a standard high school diploma, a
223 student who has not earned a passing score on the grade 10 ELA
224 assessment must earn a passing score on the assessment retake or
225 earn a concordant score as authorized under subsection (9).
226 2. Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, the end-of
227 year comprehensive progress monitoring assessment administered
228 pursuant to s. 1008.25(8)(b)2. is the statewide, standardized
229 ELA assessment for students in grades 3 through 10 and the
230 statewide, standardized Mathematics assessment for students in
231 grades 3 through 8.
232 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.