Bill Text: NY A03184 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Includes the Sandy Ground community, the oldest continuously inhabited free black settlement in the United States, in the education curriculum.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to education [A03184 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A03184-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          3184

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 2, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. REILLY -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Education

        AN  ACT  to  amend the education law, in relation to including the Sandy
          Ground community in the education curriculum

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 801 of the education law,
     2  as amended by section 27 of part A of chapter 56 of the  laws  of  2020,
     3  are amended to read as follows:
     4    1.  In  order  to  promote a spirit of patriotic and civic service and
     5  obligation and to foster in the children of the state moral  and  intel-
     6  lectual  qualities  which  are  essential in preparing to meet the obli-
     7  gations of citizenship in peace or in war, the regents of The University
     8  of the State of New York  shall  prescribe  courses  of  instruction  in
     9  patriotism,  citizenship, civic education and values, our shared history
    10  of diversity, the role of religious tolerance in this country, and human
    11  rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the  inhumanity
    12  of  genocide, slavery (including the freedom trail and underground rail-
    13  road), Staten Island's Sandy Ground community, the  oldest  continuously
    14  inhabited free black settlement in the United States, the Holocaust, and
    15  the  mass  starvation in Ireland from 1845 to 1850, to be maintained and
    16  followed in all the schools of the state. The boards  of  education  and
    17  trustees  of  the several cities and school districts of the state shall
    18  require instruction to  be  given  in  such  courses,  by  the  teachers
    19  employed in the schools therein. All pupils attending such schools, over
    20  the age of eight years, shall attend upon such instruction.
    21    Similar  courses  of instruction shall be prescribed and maintained in
    22  private schools in the state, and all pupils in such schools over  eight
    23  years  of age shall attend upon such courses. If such courses are not so
    24  established and maintained in a private school, attendance upon instruc-
    25  tion in such school shall not  be  deemed  substantially  equivalent  to

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02035-01-3
        A. 3184                             2

     1  instruction  given  to  pupils  of like age in the public schools of the
     2  city or district in which such pupils reside.
     3    3.  The  regents  shall  determine the subjects to be included in such
     4  courses of instruction in patriotism, citizenship, civic  education  and
     5  values, our shared history of diversity, the role of history of diversi-
     6  ty,  the  role  of religious tolerance in this country, and human rights
     7  issues, with particular attention to the  study  of  the  inhumanity  of
     8  genocide,   slavery   (including   the  freedom  trail  and  underground
     9  railroad), Staten Island's Sandy Ground community,  the  oldest  contin-
    10  uously  inhabited  free black settlement in the United States, the Holo-
    11  caust,   and   the   mass    starvation    in    Ireland    from    1845
    12  to  1850,  and  in  the history, meaning, significance and effect of the
    13  provisions of the constitution of  the  United  States,  the  amendments
    14  thereto,  the declaration of independence, the constitution of the state
    15  of New York and the amendments thereto, and the period of instruction in
    16  each of the grades in such subjects. They shall  adopt  rules  providing
    17  for  attendance  upon such instruction and for such other matters as are
    18  required for carrying into effect  the  objects  and  purposes  of  this
    19  section.  The  commissioner  shall be responsible for the enforcement of
    20  such section and shall cause to be inspected and supervise the  instruc-
    21  tion  to  be  given  in  such  subjects.  The  commissioner  may, in his
    22  discretion, cause all or a portion of the  public  school  money  to  be
    23  apportioned  to  a  district  or  city to be withheld for failure of the
    24  school authorities of such district or city to  provide  instruction  in
    25  such  courses  and to compel attendance upon such instruction, as herein
    26  prescribed, and for a non-compliance  with  the  rules  of  the  regents
    27  adopted as herein provided.
    28    § 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.