S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6888
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                                May 8, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  BLUMENCRANZ -- read once and referred 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 section 27 of part A of chapter 56 of the  laws  of
 2020, 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, civic education and
 values, our shared history of diversity, the role of history of diversi-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD02282-01-3
              

 A. 6888                             2
 
 ty, the role of religious tolerance in this country,  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
 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.
   §  2.  This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
 the date on which it shall have become a law.