Florida Senate - 2024 SB 928
By Senator Thompson
15-01672-24 2024928__
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 contract with specified entities to
6 develop specified training and resources; creating s.
7 1003.4551, F.S.; requiring the department to annually
8 verify that school districts, charter schools, and
9 specified private schools implement certain
10 instruction relating to the history of the Holocaust
11 and the history of African Americans and providing
12 requirements therefor; requiring district school
13 superintendents, charter school principals, and
14 private school directors or similar administrators to
15 annually provide specified evidence to the department
16 by a certain date; providing penalties for failure to
17 provide such evidence; authorizing the State Board of
18 Education to adopt rules; amending s. 1008.22, F.S.;
19 requiring certain statewide, standardized assessments
20 to include curricula content from the history of the
21 Holocaust and the history of African Americans;
22 providing an effective date.
23
24 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
25
26 Section 1. Paragraph (h) of subsection (2) of section
27 1003.42, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
28 1003.42 Required instruction.—
29 (2) Members of the instructional staff of the public
30 schools, subject to the rules of the State Board of Education
31 and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and
32 faithfully, using the books and materials required that meet the
33 highest standards for professionalism and historical accuracy,
34 following the prescribed courses of study, and employing
35 approved methods of instruction, the following:
36 (h) The history of African Americans, including the history
37 of African peoples before the political conflicts that led to
38 the development of slavery, the passage to America, the
39 enslavement experience, abolition, and the history and
40 contributions of Americans of the African diaspora to society.
41 Students shall develop an understanding of the ramifications of
42 prejudice, racism, and stereotyping on individual freedoms, and
43 examine what it means to be a responsible and respectful person,
44 for the purpose of encouraging tolerance of diversity in a
45 pluralistic society and for nurturing and protecting democratic
46 values and institutions. Instruction shall include the roles and
47 contributions of individuals from all walks of life and their
48 endeavors to learn and thrive throughout history as artists,
49 scientists, educators, businesspeople, influential thinkers,
50 members of the faith community, and political and governmental
51 leaders and the courageous steps they took to fulfill the
52 promise of democracy and unite the nation. Instructional
53 materials shall include the vital contributions of African
54 Americans to build and strengthen American society and celebrate
55 the inspirational stories of African Americans who prospered,
56 even in the most difficult circumstances. Instructional
57 personnel may facilitate discussions and use curricula to
58 address, in an age-appropriate manner, how the individual
59 freedoms of persons have been infringed by slavery, racial
60 oppression, racial segregation, and racial discrimination, as
61 well as topics relating to the enactment and enforcement of laws
62 resulting in racial oppression, racial segregation, and racial
63 discrimination and how recognition of these freedoms has
64 overturned these unjust laws. However, classroom instruction and
65 curriculum may not be used to indoctrinate or persuade students
66 to a particular point of view inconsistent with the principles
67 enumerated in subsection (3) or the state academic standards.
68 Each school district must annually certify and provide evidence
69 to the department, in a manner prescribed by the department,
70 that the requirements of this paragraph are met. The department
71 shall prepare and offer standards and curriculum for the
72 instruction required by this paragraph and may seek input from
73 the Commissioner of Education’s African American History Task
74 Force or from any state or nationally recognized African
75 American educational organizations. The department may contract
76 with any state or nationally recognized African-American
77 educational organizations or with a recognized museum of
78 African-American history to develop training for instructional
79 personnel and grade-appropriate classroom resources to support
80 the developed curriculum.
81
82 The State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards
83 and pursue assessment of the requirements of this subsection.
84 Instructional programming that incorporates the values of the
85 recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor and that is
86 offered as part of a social studies, English Language Arts, or
87 other schoolwide character building and veteran awareness
88 initiative meets the requirements of paragraph (u).
89 Section 2. Section 1003.4551, Florida Statutes, is created
90 to read:
91 1003.4551 School district, charter school, and private
92 school implementation of the history of the Holocaust and the
93 history of African Americans.—
94 (1) Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, the department
95 shall annually verify that each school district, charter school,
96 and private school implements the instruction required under s.
97 1003.42(2)(g) and (h), relating to the history of the Holocaust
98 and the history of African Americans, efficiently and faithfully
99 throughout the school district’s, charter school’s, or private
100 school’s entire curriculum, as appropriate. For purposes of this
101 section, the term “private school” means a private school that
102 accepts scholarship students who participate in a scholarship
103 program under chapter 1002.
104 (2) Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, each school
105 district, charter school, and private school must:
106 (a) Develop, and each district school board, charter school
107 governing board, and private school director or similar
108 administrator must adopt, a plan for the implementation of the
109 history of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans
110 required instruction and publicize such plan in the school
111 district’s, charter school’s, or private school’s curriculum
112 guides and on the school district’s, charter school’s, or
113 private school’s website.
114 (b) Develop and implement an ongoing professional
115 development plan for training instructional staff in strategies
116 for teaching the history of the Holocaust and the history of
117 African Americans. The school district, charter school, or
118 private school must allocate adequate resources to structured
119 professional development programs and for enhancing the
120 instruction of the history of the Holocaust and the history of
121 African Americans in an infused format.
122 (c) Integrate curricula for the history of the Holocaust
123 and the history of African Americans which meet the requirements
124 of s. 1003.42(2)(g) and (h) as part of the school district’s,
125 charter school’s, or private school’s curriculum. Such curricula
126 must be distributed to curriculum specialists, teachers, media
127 specialists, and other instructional staff. The school district,
128 charter school, or private school must ensure that adequate
129 instructional resources, including, but not limited to, books,
130 compact discs, digital media, and lesson plans, are available to
131 support such instruction.
132 (d) Include the history of the Holocaust and the history of
133 African Americans content in lesson plans for the entire school
134 year, as appropriate.
135 (e) Approve methods for teaching and assessing the history
136 of the Holocaust and the history of African Americans curricula.
137 (f) Include the history of the Holocaust and the history of
138 African Americans content in any preparations for statewide
139 assessments, as appropriate.
140 (g) Include the history of the Holocaust and the history of
141 African Americans content in all appropriate subject areas.
142 (h) Partner with a state university for the development and
143 implementation of professional development, curricula, and
144 instructional support, including jointly seeking external
145 funding and preparing teachers and other instructional staff to
146 teach the history of the Holocaust and the history of African
147 Americans.
148 (i) Develop strategies to involve parents in the
149 implementation of the curricula for the history of the Holocaust
150 and the history of African Americans, including through
151 awareness information sessions.
152 (j) Partner with community members in the development and
153 ongoing implementation of the history of the Holocaust and the
154 history of African Americans curricula. To better connect
155 students to the study of African-American history and allow
156 students to experience places, artifacts, and activities that
157 authentically represent and are connected to our nation’s
158 African-American history, members of the instructional staff are
159 encouraged to include the use of the United States National Park
160 Service’s Teaching with Historic Places curriculum and tours of
161 locations listed on the National Register of Historic Places,
162 houses, parks, and cemeteries in the study of the history of
163 African Americans when practicable.
164 (3) By August 1, 2024, and annually thereafter, each
165 district school superintendent, charter school principal, and
166 private school director or similar administrator shall provide
167 to the department, in a format prescribed by the department,
168 evidence of school district, charter school, and private school
169 compliance with subsection (2). If a district school
170 superintendent, charter school principal, or private school
171 director or similar administrator fails to provide such
172 evidence, he or she is subject to the following penalties:
173 (a) For a district school superintendent, he or she must
174 provide a written explanation to the district school board and
175 the Commissioner of Education to explain the district school
176 superintendent’s failure to provide such evidence.
177 (b) For a charter school principal, his or her charter
178 school is deemed in violation of its charter with the school
179 district until he or she provides such evidence.
180 (c) For a private school director or similar administrator,
181 his or her private school may not receive any state funds from a
182 scholarship program under chapter 1002 until he or she provides
183 such evidence.
184 (4) The State Board of Education may adopt rules to
185 administer this section.
186 Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section
187 1008.22, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
188 1008.22 Student assessment program for public schools.—
189 (3) STATEWIDE, STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT PROGRAM.—The
190 Commissioner of Education shall design and implement a
191 statewide, standardized assessment program aligned to the core
192 curricular content established in the state academic standards.
193 The commissioner also must develop or select and implement a
194 common battery of assessment tools that will be used in all
195 juvenile justice education programs in the state. These tools
196 must accurately measure the core curricular content established
197 in the state academic standards. Participation in the assessment
198 program is mandatory for all school districts and all students
199 attending public schools, including adult students seeking a
200 standard high school diploma under s. 1003.4282 and students in
201 Department of Juvenile Justice education programs, except as
202 otherwise provided by law. If a student does not participate in
203 the assessment program, the school district must notify the
204 student’s parent and provide the parent with information
205 regarding the implications of such nonparticipation. The
206 statewide, standardized assessment program shall be designed and
207 implemented as follows:
208 (a) Statewide, standardized comprehensive assessments.—
209 1. The statewide, standardized English Language Arts (ELA)
210 assessments shall be administered to students in grades 3
211 through 10. Retake opportunities for the grade 10 ELA assessment
212 must be provided. Reading passages and writing prompts for ELA
213 assessments shall incorporate grade-level core curricula content
214 from social studies and, when appropriate, curricula content
215 from the history of the Holocaust and the history of African
216 Americans. The statewide, standardized Mathematics assessments
217 shall be administered annually in grades 3 through 8. The
218 statewide, standardized Science assessment shall be administered
219 annually at least once at the elementary and middle grades
220 levels. In order to earn a standard high school diploma, a
221 student who has not earned a passing score on the grade 10 ELA
222 assessment must earn a passing score on the assessment retake or
223 earn a concordant score as authorized under subsection (9).
224 2. Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, the end-of
225 year comprehensive progress monitoring assessment administered
226 pursuant to s. 1008.25(9)(b)2. is the statewide, standardized
227 ELA assessment for students in grades 3 through 10 and the
228 statewide, standardized Mathematics assessment for students in
229 grades 3 through 8.
230 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.