S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
7261
I N S E N A T E
May 2, 2012
___________
Introduced by Sen. LANZA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to courses of instruction
on the constitution of the United States and the federalist papers
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivisions 2 and 3 of section 801 of the education law,
subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 481 of the laws of 1949 and subdivi-
sion 3 as amended by chapter 574 of the laws of 1997, are amended and a
new subdivision 6 is added to read as follows:
2. The regents shall prescribe courses of instruction in the history,
meaning, significance and effect of the provisions of the constitution
of the United States, the amendments thereto, THE FEDERALIST PAPERS, the
declaration of independence, the constitution of the state of New York
and the amendments thereto, to be maintained and followed in all of the
schools of the state. The boards of education and trustees of the
several cities and school districts of the state shall require instruc-
tion to be given in such courses, by the teachers employed in the
schools therein. All pupils attending such schools, in the eighth and
higher grades, shall attend upon such instruction.
Similar courses of instruction shall be prescribed and maintained in
private schools in the state, and all pupils in such schools in grades
or classes corresponding to the instruction in the eighth and higher
grades of the public schools shall attend upon such courses. If such
courses are not so established and maintained in a private school,
attendance upon instruction in such school shall not be deemed substan-
tially equivalent to instruction given to pupils in the public schools
of the city or district in which such pupils reside.
3. The regents shall determine the subjects to be included in such
courses of instruction in patriotism, citizenship, and human rights
issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of
genocide, slavery (including the freedom trail and underground rail-
road), the Holocaust, and the mass starvation in Ireland from 1845 to
1850, and in the history, meaning, significance and effect of the
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15652-01-2
S. 7261 2
provisions of the constitution of the United States, the amendments
thereto, THE FEDERALIST PAPERS, the declaration of independence, the
constitution of the state of New York and the amendments thereto, and
the period of instruction in each of the grades in such subjects. They
shall adopt rules providing for attendance upon such instruction and for
such other matters as are required for carrying into effect the objects
and purposes of this section. The commissioner shall be responsible for
the enforcement of such section and shall cause to be inspected and
supervise the instruction to be given in such subjects. The commissioner
may, in his discretion, cause all or a portion of the public school
money to be apportioned to a district or city to be withheld for failure
of the school authorities of such district or city to provide instruc-
tion in such courses and to compel attendance upon such instruction, as
herein prescribed, and for a non-compliance with the rules of the
regents adopted as herein provided.
6. THE REGENTS SHALL ESTABLISH AND IMPLEMENT A COURSE OF INSTRUCTION
ON THE HISTORY, MEANING, SIGNIFICANCE AND EFFECT OF THE FEDERALIST
PAPERS AND THE PROVISIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AND
ALL AMENDMENTS THERETO. SUCH COURSE OF INSTRUCTION ESTABLISHED PURSUANT
TO THIS SUBDIVISION SHALL BE PROVIDED TO ALL PUPILS IN GRADES NINE
THROUGH TWELVE.
S 2. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
the date on which it shall have become a law.
