Senate Bill sb0468c1
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Florida Senate - 2007 CS for SB 468
By the Committee on Education Pre-K - 12; and Senator Siplin
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1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to required school instruction;
3 amending s. 1003.42, F.S.; requiring the
4 character-development program to include
5 conflict-resolution management; providing an
6 effective date.
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8 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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10 Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 1003.42, Florida
11 Statutes, is amended to read:
12 1003.42 Required instruction.--
13 (2) Members of the instructional staff of the public
14 schools, subject to the rules of the State Board of Education
15 and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and
16 faithfully, using the books and materials required that meet
17 the highest standards for professionalism and historic
18 accuracy, following the prescribed courses of study, and
19 employing approved methods of instruction, the following:
20 (a) The history and content of the Declaration of
21 Independence, including national sovereignty, natural law,
22 self-evident truth, equality of all persons, limited
23 government, popular sovereignty, and inalienable rights of
24 life, liberty, and property, and how they form the
25 philosophical foundation of our government.
26 (b) The history, meaning, significance, and effect of
27 the provisions of the Constitution of the United States and
28 amendments thereto, with emphasis on each of the 10 amendments
29 that make up the Bill of Rights and how the constitution
30 provides the structure of our government.
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Florida Senate - 2007 CS for SB 468
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1 (c) The arguments in support of adopting our
2 republican form of government, as they are embodied in the
3 most important of the Federalist Papers.
4 (d) Flag education, including proper flag display and
5 flag salute.
6 (e) The elements of civil government, including the
7 primary functions of and interrelationships between the
8 Federal Government, the state, and its counties,
9 municipalities, school districts, and special districts.
10 (f) The history of the United States, including the
11 period of discovery, early colonies, the War for Independence,
12 the Civil War, the expansion of the United States to its
13 present boundaries, the world wars, and the civil rights
14 movement to the present. American history shall be viewed as
15 factual, not as constructed, shall be viewed as knowable,
16 teachable, and testable, and shall be defined as the creation
17 of a new nation based largely on the universal principles
18 stated in the Declaration of Independence.
19 (g) The history of the Holocaust (1933-1945), the
20 systematic, planned annihilation of European Jews and other
21 groups by Nazi Germany, a watershed event in the history of
22 humanity, to be taught in a manner that leads to an
23 investigation of human behavior, an understanding of the
24 ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping, and an
25 examination of what it means to be a responsible and
26 respectful person, for the purposes of encouraging tolerance
27 of diversity in a pluralistic society and for nurturing and
28 protecting democratic values and institutions.
29 (h) The history of African Americans, including the
30 history of African peoples before the political conflicts that
31 led to the development of slavery, the passage to America, the
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Florida Senate - 2007 CS for SB 468
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1 enslavement experience, abolition, and the contributions of
2 African Americans to society.
3 (i) The elementary principles of agriculture.
4 (j) The true effects of all alcoholic and intoxicating
5 liquors and beverages and narcotics upon the human body and
6 mind.
7 (k) Kindness to animals.
8 (l) The history of the state.
9 (m) The conservation of natural resources.
10 (n) Comprehensive health education that addresses
11 concepts of community health; consumer health; environmental
12 health; family life, including an awareness of the benefits of
13 sexual abstinence as the expected standard and the
14 consequences of teenage pregnancy; mental and emotional
15 health; injury prevention and safety; nutrition; personal
16 health; prevention and control of disease; and substance use
17 and abuse.
18 (o) Such additional materials, subjects, courses, or
19 fields in such grades as are prescribed by law or by rules of
20 the State Board of Education and the district school board in
21 fulfilling the requirements of law.
22 (p) The study of Hispanic contributions to the United
23 States.
24 (q) The study of women's contributions to the United
25 States.
26 (r) The nature and importance of free enterprise to
27 the United States economy.
28 (s) A character-development program in the elementary
29 schools, similar to Character First or Character Counts, which
30 is secular in nature. Beginning in school year 2004-2005, the
31 character-development program shall be required in
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Florida Senate - 2007 CS for SB 468
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1 kindergarten through grade 12. Each district school board
2 shall develop or adopt a curriculum for the
3 character-development program that shall be submitted to the
4 department for approval. The character-development curriculum
5 shall stress the qualities of patriotism; responsibility;
6 citizenship; kindness; respect for authority, life, liberty,
7 and personal property; honesty; charity; self-control; racial,
8 ethnic, and religious tolerance; and cooperation; and
9 conflict-resolution management, including peer mediation.
10 (t) In order to encourage patriotism, the sacrifices
11 that veterans have made in serving our country and protecting
12 democratic values worldwide. Such instruction must occur on or
13 before Veterans' Day and Memorial Day. Members of the
14 instructional staff are encouraged to use the assistance of
15 local veterans when practicable.
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17 The State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards
18 and pursue assessment of the requirements of this subsection.
19 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.
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21 STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
22 Senate Bill 468
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24 The committee substitute removes the requirement for a
conflict resolution course for 6th grade students and instead,
25 provides that conflict resolution, including peer mediation,
be incorporated into existing character development programs.
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