Bill Text: MI SB0876 | 2021-2022 | 101st Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Education: curriculum; recommended model core academic curriculum content standards; modify to strongly encourage inclusion of learning objectives concerning Indian boarding schools. Amends sec. 1278 of 1976 PA 451 (MCL 380.1278).
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-4)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-02-16 - Referred To Committee On Education And Career Readiness [SB0876 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2021-SB0876-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL NO. 876
A bill to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled
"The revised school code,"
by amending section 1278 (MCL 380.1278), as amended by 2016 PA 170.
the people of the state of michigan enact:
Sec. 1278. (1) In addition to the requirements for accreditation under section 1280 specified in that section, if the board of a school district wants all of the schools of the school district to be accredited under section 1280, the board shall provide to all pupils attending public school in the district a core academic curriculum in compliance with subsection (3) in each of the curricular areas specified in the state board recommended model core academic curriculum content standards developed under subsection (2). The state board model core academic curriculum content standards shall must encompass academic and cognitive instruction only. For purposes of this section, the state board model core academic curriculum content standards shall must not include attitudes, beliefs, or value systems that are not essential in the legal, economic, and social structure of our society and to the personal and social responsibility of citizens of our society.
(2) Recommended model core academic curriculum content standards shall must be developed and periodically updated by the state board, shall must be in the form of knowledge and skill content standards that are recommended as state standards for adoption by public schools in local curriculum formulation and adoption, and shall must be distributed to each school district in the this state. The recommended model core academic curriculum content standards shall must set forth desired learning objectives in math, science, reading, history, geography, economics, American government, and writing for all children at each stage of schooling and be based upon the "Michigan K-12 Program Standards of Quality" to ensure that high academic standards, academic skills, and academic subject matters are built into the instructional goals of all school districts for all children. The state board shall ensure that the recommended model core academic curriculum content standards for history for grades 8 to 12 include learning objectives concerning genocide, including, but not limited to, the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide. The state board is strongly encouraged to ensure that the recommended model core academic curriculum content standards for history for grades 8 to 12 include learning objectives concerning Indian boarding schools. The state board also shall ensure that the state assessment program and the Michigan merit examination are based on the state recommended model core curriculum content standards, are testing only for proficiency in basic and advanced academic skills and academic subject matter, and are not used to measure pupils' values or attitudes.
(3) The board of each school district, considering academic curricular objectives defined and recommended pursuant to under subsection (2), shall do both of the following:
(a) Establish a core academic curriculum for its pupils at the elementary, middle, and secondary school levels. The core academic curriculum shall must define academic objectives to be achieved by all pupils and shall must be based upon the school district's educational mission, long-range pupil goals, and pupil performance objectives. The core academic curriculum may vary from the model core academic curriculum content standards recommended by the state board pursuant to under subsection (2).
(b) After consulting with teachers and school building administrators, determine the aligned instructional program for delivering the core academic curriculum and identify the courses and programs in which the core academic curriculum will be taught.
(4) The board may supplement the core academic curriculum by providing instruction through additional classes and programs.
(5) For all pupils, the subjects or courses, and the delivery of those including special assistance, that constitute the curriculum the pupils engage in shall must assure the pupils have a realistic opportunity to learn all subjects and courses required by the district's core academic curriculum. A subject or course required by the core academic curriculum pursuant to under subsection (3) shall must be provided to all pupils in the school district by a school district, a consortium of school districts, or a consortium of 1 or more school districts and 1 or more intermediate school districts.
(6) To the extent practicable, the state board may adopt or develop academic objective-oriented high standards for knowledge and life skills, and a recommended core academic curriculum, for special education pupils for whom it may not be realistic or desirable to expect achievement of initial mastery of the state board recommended model core academic content standards objectives or of a high school diploma.
(7) The state board shall make available to all nonpublic schools in this state, as a resource for their consideration, the model core academic curriculum content standards developed for public schools pursuant to under subsection (2) for the purpose of assisting the governing body of a nonpublic school in developing its core academic curriculum.
(8) Excluding special education pupils, pupils having a learning disability, and pupils with extenuating circumstances as determined by school officials, a pupil who does not score satisfactorily on the fourth or seventh grade 4 or 7 state assessment program reading test shall must be provided special assistance reasonably expected to enable the pupil to bring his or her reading skills to grade level within 12 months.
(9) Any course that would have been considered a nonessential elective course under Snyder v Charlotte School Dist, 421 Mich 517 (1984), on April 13, 1990 shall must continue to be offered to resident pupils of nonpublic schools on a shared time basis.
(10) As used in this section: ,
(a) "Armenian Genocide", "genocide", and "Holocaust" mean those terms as defined in section 1168.
(b) "Indian boarding schools" means entities that had or have as their purpose the cultural assimilation of Indigenous children through the forceful relocation of these children from their families and communities to distant residential facilities where the children's American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian identities, languages, and beliefs were to be forcibly suppressed.
(11) It is the intent of the Legislature that the amendatory act that added this subsection serve as recognition of the following:
(a) That many Indigenous children spent the entirety of their childhood in school systems without seeing their parents or families for many years.
(b) That Indigenous children have suffered physical, sexual, cultural, and spiritual abuse and neglect and have experienced treatment that, in many cases, constituted torture for speaking their native languages.
(c) That Indigenous children have lost their lives at Indian boarding schools due to abuse, malnutrition, starvation, neglect, inadequate medical care, and disease.
