Florida Senate - 2020                      CS for CS for SB 1628
       
       
        
       By the Committees on Appropriations; and Education; and Senators
       Book, Hooper, Rader, Berman, Cruz, Stewart, and Rodriguez
       
       
       
       
       576-04268-20                                          20201628c2
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to Holocaust education; amending s.
    3         1003.42, F.S.; including the study of a specified
    4         policy against anti-Semitism in specified instruction;
    5         requiring each school district to annually certify and
    6         provide evidence to the department that certain
    7         instructional requirements have been met; authorizing
    8         the department to work with a certain task force and
    9         other entities for specified purposes; recognizing the
   10         second week in November as Holocaust Education Week;
   11         providing an effective date.
   12          
   13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   14  
   15         Section 1. Paragraph (g) of subsection (2) of section
   16  1003.42, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   17         1003.42 Required instruction.—
   18         (2) Members of the instructional staff of the public
   19  schools, subject to the rules of the State Board of Education
   20  and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and
   21  faithfully, using the books and materials required that meet the
   22  highest standards for professionalism and historical accuracy,
   23  following the prescribed courses of study, and employing
   24  approved methods of instruction, the following:
   25         (g) The history of the Holocaust (1933-1945), the
   26  systematic, planned annihilation of European Jews and other
   27  groups by Nazi Germany, a watershed event in the history of
   28  humanity, to be taught in a manner that leads to an
   29  investigation of human behavior, an understanding of the
   30  ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping, and an
   31  examination of what it means to be a responsible and respectful
   32  person, for the purposes of encouraging tolerance of diversity
   33  in a pluralistic society and for nurturing and protecting
   34  democratic values and institutions, including the policy
   35  against, definition of, and historical and current examples of
   36  anti-Semitism, as described in s. 1000.05(7), and the prevention
   37  of anti-Semitism. Each school district must annually certify and
   38  provide evidence to the department, in a manner prescribed by
   39  the department, that the requirements of this paragraph are met.
   40  The department shall prepare and offer standards and curriculum
   41  for the instruction required by this paragraph and may seek
   42  input from the Commissioner of Education’s Task Force on
   43  Holocaust Education or from any state or nationally recognized
   44  Holocaust educational organization. The department may contract
   45  with the Commissioner of Education’s Task Force on Holocaust
   46  Education and other entities, including the Holocaust Education
   47  Resource Council, Florida State University’s Holocaust Institute
   48  for Educators, the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education
   49  Center of Florida, the Holocaust Education and Documentation
   50  Center, Inc., Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Holocaust
   51  and Human Rights Education, the University of Miami’s Holocaust
   52  Teacher Institute, the Holocaust Museum and Janet G. and Harvey
   53  D. Cohen Education Center, the University of Florida Center for
   54  Jewish Studies, the Northeast Florida Center for Holocaust and
   55  Human Rights Education, and the Florida Holocaust Museum or
   56  other state or nationally recognized Holocaust educational
   57  organizations, to develop training for instructional personnel
   58  and grade-appropriate classroom resources to support the
   59  developed curriculum. The second week in November of each year
   60  must be recognized in the public K-20 education system as
   61  Holocaust Education Week, in commemoration of the anniversary of
   62  Kristallnacht, widely recognized as a precipitating event that
   63  led to the Holocaust.
   64  
   65  The State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards
   66  and pursue assessment of the requirements of this subsection. A
   67  character development program that incorporates the values of
   68  the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor and that is
   69  offered as part of a social studies, English Language Arts, or
   70  other schoolwide character building and veteran awareness
   71  initiative meets the requirements of paragraphs (s) and (t).
   72         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.