Florida Senate - 2009 SB 2396
By Senator Wise
5-00938A-09 20092396__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to educational instruction; amending
3 s. 1003.42, F.S.; requiring that the instructional
4 staff of a public school teach a thorough presentation
5 and critical analysis of the scientific theory of
6 evolution and certain governmental, legal, and civic
7 related principles; providing an effective date.
8
9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
10
11 Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 1003.42, Florida
12 Statutes, is amended to read:
13 1003.42 Required instruction.—
14 (2) Members of the instructional staff of the public
15 schools, subject to the rules of the State Board of Education
16 and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and
17 faithfully, using the books and materials required to that meet
18 the highest standards for professionalism and historic accuracy,
19 following the prescribed courses of study, and employing
20 approved methods of instruction, the following:
21 (a) A thorough presentation and critical analysis of the
22 scientific theory of evolution.
23 (b)(a) The history and content of the Declaration of
24 Independence, including national sovereignty, natural law, self
25 evident truth, equality of all persons, limited government,
26 popular sovereignty, and inalienable rights of life, liberty,
27 and property, and how they form the philosophical foundation of
28 our government.
29 (c)(b) The history, meaning, significance, and effect of
30 the provisions of the Constitution of the United States and
31 amendments thereto, with emphasis on each of the 10 amendments
32 that make up the Bill of Rights and how the constitution
33 provides the structure of our government.
34 (d)(c) The arguments in support of adopting our republican
35 form of government, as they are embodied in the most important
36 of the Federalist Papers.
37 (e)(d) Flag education, including proper flag display and
38 flag salute.
39 (f)(e) The elements of civil government, including the
40 primary functions of and interrelationships between the Federal
41 Government, the state, and its counties, municipalities, school
42 districts, and special districts.
43 (g) The historical context in which the Declaration of
44 Independence was drafted and signed; the purposes, functions,
45 and limitations of the legislative, executive, and judicial
46 branches of the federal, state, and local governments; the
47 significance of common law, state and federal constitutional
48 law, statutory law, procedural law, and local ordinances or
49 codes; an understanding of important legal principles, including
50 the rule of law, stare decisis, and the federal supremacy
51 clause; and the duties that all citizens share in order to know
52 and protect the rule of law.
53 (h)(f) The history of the United States, including the
54 period of discovery, early colonies, the War for Independence,
55 the Civil War, the expansion of the United States to its present
56 boundaries, the world wars, and the civil rights movement to the
57 present. American history shall be viewed as factual, not as
58 constructed, shall be viewed as knowable, teachable, and
59 testable, and shall be defined as the creation of a new nation
60 based largely on the universal principles stated in the
61 Declaration of Independence.
62 (i)(g) The history of the Holocaust (1933-1945), the
63 systematic, planned annihilation of European Jews and other
64 groups by Nazi Germany, a watershed event in the history of
65 humanity, to be taught in a manner that leads to an
66 investigation of human behavior, an understanding of the
67 ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping, and an
68 examination of what it means to be a responsible and respectful
69 person, for the purposes of encouraging tolerance of diversity
70 in a pluralistic society and for nurturing and protecting
71 democratic values and institutions.
72 (j)(h) The history of African Americans, including the
73 history of African peoples before the political conflicts that
74 led to the development of slavery, the passage to America, the
75 enslavement experience, abolition, and the contributions of
76 African Americans to society.
77 (k)(i) The elementary principles of agriculture.
78 (l)(j) The true effects of all alcoholic and intoxicating
79 liquors and beverages and narcotics upon the human body and
80 mind.
81 (m)(k) Kindness to animals.
82 (n)(l) The history of the state.
83 (o)(m) The conservation of natural resources.
84 (p)(n) Comprehensive health education that addresses
85 concepts of community health; consumer health; environmental
86 health; family life, including an awareness of the benefits of
87 sexual abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences
88 of teenage pregnancy; mental and emotional health; injury
89 prevention and safety; nutrition; personal health; prevention
90 and control of disease; and substance use and abuse.
91 (q)(o) Such additional materials, subjects, courses, or
92 fields in such grades as are prescribed by law or by rules of
93 the State Board of Education and the district school board in
94 fulfilling the requirements of law.
95 (r)(p) The study of Hispanic contributions to the United
96 States.
97 (s)(q) The study of women's contributions to the United
98 States.
99 (t)(r) The nature and importance of free enterprise to the
100 United States economy.
101 (u)(s) A character-development program in the elementary
102 schools, similar to Character First or Character Counts, which
103 is secular in nature. Beginning in school year 2004-2005, the
104 character-development program shall be required in kindergarten
105 through grade 12. Each district school board shall develop or
106 adopt a curriculum for the character-development program that
107 shall be submitted to the department for approval. The
108 character-development curriculum shall emphasize stress the
109 qualities of patriotism; responsibility; citizenship; kindness;
110 respect for authority, life, liberty, and personal property;
111 honesty; charity; self-control; racial, ethnic, and religious
112 tolerance; and cooperation; and conflict-resolution management,
113 including peer mediation.
114 (v)(t) In order to encourage patriotism, the sacrifices
115 that veterans have made in serving our country and protecting
116 democratic values worldwide. Such instruction must occur on or
117 before Veterans' Day and Memorial Day. Members of the
118 instructional staff are encouraged to use the assistance of
119 local veterans when practicable.
120
121 The State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards
122 and pursue assessment of the requirements of this subsection.
123 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.