Bill Text: MI SB1079 | 2021-2022 | 101st Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Education: curriculum; social studies curriculum for grades 8 to 12; expand to include instruction about the Holodomor Genocide. Amends secs. 1168, 1278 & 1279g of 1976 PA 451 (MCL 380.1168 et seq.).
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-06-09 - Referred To Committee On Education And Career Readiness [SB1079 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2021-SB1079-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL NO. 1079
A bill to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled
"The revised school code,"
by amending sections 1168, 1278, and 1279g (MCL 380.1168, 380.1278, and 380.1279g), section 1168 as added and sections 1278 and 1279g as amended by 2016 PA 170.
the people of the state of michigan enact:
Sec. 1168. (1) Beginning in the 2016-2017 school year, the The board of a school district or board of directors of a public school academy shall ensure that the school district's or public school academy's social studies curriculum for grades 8 to 12 includes age- and grade-appropriate instruction about genocide, including, but not limited to, the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide, and beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, the Holodomor Genocide. The legislature recommends a combined total of 6 hours of this instruction during grades 8 to 12.
(2) Subsection (1) does not preclude a school district or public school academy from including instruction described in subsection (1) in other subject areas.
(3) The governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education is created as a temporary commission described in section 4 of article V of the state constitution of 1963.
(4) The governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education shall consist of 15 members appointed by the governor. Members shall be individuals who have a particular interest or expertise in genocide education or Holocaust education, or both.
(5) If the governor determines that sufficient private funding is available for the operations of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education, the governor shall appoint the members of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education within 60 days after the effective date of this section.
(6) If a vacancy occurs on the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education, the governor shall make an appointment for the unexpired term in the same manner as the original appointment.
(7) The governor may remove a member of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education for incompetence, dereliction of duty, malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, or any other good cause.
(8) The first meeting of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education shall be called by the governor. At the first meeting, the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education shall elect from among its members a chairperson and other officers as it considers necessary or appropriate. After the first meeting, the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education shall meet at least quarterly, or more frequently at the call of the chairperson or if requested by 8 or more members.
(9) A majority of the members of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education appointed and serving constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at a meeting of the council. A majority of the members present and serving are required for official action of the council. A member may not vote by proxy.
(10) The business that the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education may perform shall be conducted at a public meeting of the council held in compliance with the open meetings act, 1976 PA 267, MCL 15.261 to 15.275.
(11) A writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education in the performance of an official function is subject to the freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to 15.246.
(12) Members of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education shall serve without compensation. However, if funding is available for this purpose from private sources, members of the council may be reimbursed for their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties as members of the council.
(13) State funds shall not be used for the operations of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education.
(14) The governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education shall do all of the following:
(a) Identify, to the extent possible, all sources of strategies and content for providing and enhancing genocide education to students.
(b) Advise the superintendent of public instruction, school districts, public school academies, and nonpublic schools in this state on strategies and content for providing and enhancing genocide education to students.
(c) Identify, to the extent possible, all programs and resources to train teachers in providing genocide education to students and share these programs and resources with the superintendent of public instruction, school districts, public school academies, and nonpublic schools in this state.
(d) Promote, within the schools and general population of this state, implementation of genocide education. This duty includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:
(i) In accordance with 2004 PA 10, engendering and coordinating events, activities, and education that will appropriately memorialize the victims of the Holocaust, such as observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day and the Days of Remembrance.
(ii) In accordance with 2002 PA 558, engendering and coordinating events, activities, and education that will appropriately memorialize the victims of the Armenian Genocide, such as observance of the Michigan Days of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.
(iii) Engendering and coordinating events, activities, and education that will appropriately memorialize the victims of other genocides.
(e) Secure private funding for the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education. The governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education may also apply for and accept grants and receive gifts, donations, and other financial support from private sources, in accordance with state law, for the purpose of carrying out its duties under this section.
(f) Carry out any other tasks that it considers to be advisable to support the ability of this state to meet its goals in providing genocide education.
(g) Submit an annual report to the legislature on the progress and status of the council.
(15) With respect to its duties, the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education is an advisory body only. There is no right or obligation on the part of this state or its subdivisions, officials, or employees to implement the findings or recommendations of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education unless further legislation is enacted that specifically authorizes implementation of those findings or recommendations.
(3) (16) As used in this section:
(a) "Armenian Genocide" means the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately 1,500,000 Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish Empire and its collaborators.
(b) "Genocide" means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such: killing including, but not limited to, destroying the group through any of the following means:
(i) Killing members of the group. ; causing
(ii) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group. ; deliberately
(iii) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. ; imposing
(iv) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group. ; or forcibly
(v) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
(c) "Holocaust" means the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately 6,000,000 Jews and 5,000,000 other individuals by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.
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 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, and beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, the Holodomor Genocide. 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, 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, "Armenian Genocide", "genocide", and "Holocaust" mean those terms as defined in section 1168.
Sec. 1279g. (1) The board of a school district or board of directors of a public school academy shall comply with this section and shall administer the Michigan merit examination to pupils in grade 11, and to pupils in grade 12 who did not take the complete Michigan merit examination in grade 11, as provided in this section.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the department of technology, management, and budget shall contract with 1 or more providers to develop, supply, and score the Michigan merit examination. The Michigan merit examination shall must consist of all of the following:
(a) Assessment instruments that measure English language arts, mathematics, reading, and science and are used by colleges and universities in this state for entrance or placement purposes. This shall must include a writing component in which the pupil produces an extended writing sample. The Michigan merit examination shall must not require any other extended writing sample.
(b) One or more tests from 1 or more test developers that assess a pupil's ability to apply at least reading and mathematics skills in a manner that is intended to allow employers to use the results in making employment decisions. The department of technology, management, and budget and the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any test or tests selected under this subdivision have all the components necessary to allow a pupil to be eligible to receive the results of a nationally recognized evaluation of workforce readiness if the pupil's test performance is adequate.
(c) A social studies component.
(d) Any other component that is necessary to obtain the approval of the United States Department of Education to use the Michigan merit examination for the purposes of the no child left behind act of 2001, Public Law 107-110, or the every student succeeds act, Public Law 114-95.
(3) In addition to all other requirements of this section, all of the following apply to the Michigan merit examination:
(a) The department of technology, management, and budget and the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any contractor used for scoring the Michigan merit examination supplies an individual report for each pupil that will identify for the pupil's parents and teachers whether the pupil met expectations or failed to meet expectations for each standard, to allow the pupil's parents and teachers to assess and remedy problems before the pupil moves to the next grade.
(b) The department of technology, management, and budget and the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any contractor used for scoring, developing, or processing the Michigan merit examination meets quality management standards commonly used in the assessment industry, including at least meeting level 2 of the capability maturity model developed by the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University for the first year the Michigan merit examination is offered to all grade 11 pupils and at least meeting level 3 of the capability maturity model for subsequent years.
(c) The department of technology, management, and budget and the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any contract for scoring, administering, or developing the Michigan merit examination includes specific deadlines for all steps of the assessment process, including, but not limited to, deadlines for the correct testing materials to be supplied to schools and for the correct results to be returned to schools, and includes penalties for noncompliance with these deadlines.
(d) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the Michigan merit examination meets all of the following:
(i) Is designed to test pupils on grade level content expectations or course content expectations, as appropriate, in all subjects tested.
(ii) Complies with requirements of the no child left behind act of 2001, Public Law 107-110, or the every student succeeds act, Public Law 114-95, as applicable.
(iii) Is consistent with the code of fair testing practices in education prepared by the joint committee on testing practices of the American Psychological Association.
(iv) Is factually accurate. If the superintendent of public instruction determines that a question is not factually accurate and should be excluded from scoring, the state board and the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the question is excluded from scoring.
(4) A school district or public school academy that operates a high school shall include on each pupil's high school transcript all both of the following:
(a) For each high school graduate who has completed the Michigan merit examination under this section, the pupil's scaled score on each subject area component of the Michigan merit examination.
(b) The number of school days the pupil was in attendance at school each school year during high school and the total number of school days in session for each of those school years.
(5) The superintendent of public instruction shall work with the provider or providers of the Michigan merit examination to produce Michigan merit examination subject area scores for each pupil participating in the Michigan merit examination, including scaling and merging of test items for the different subject area components. The superintendent of public instruction shall design and distribute to school districts, public school academies, intermediate school districts, and nonpublic schools a simple and concise document that describes the scoring for each subject area and indicates the scaled score ranges for each subject area.
(6) The Michigan merit examination shall must be administered each year after March 1 and before June 1 to pupils in grade 11. The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the Michigan merit examination is scored and the scores are returned to pupils, their parents or legal guardians, and schools not later than the beginning of the pupil's first semester of grade 12. The returned scores shall must indicate at least the pupil's scaled score for each subject area component and the range of scaled scores for each subject area. In reporting the scores to pupils, parents, and schools, the superintendent of public instruction shall provide standards-specific, meaningful, and timely feedback on the pupil's performance on the Michigan merit examination.
(7) A school district or public school academy shall administer the complete Michigan merit examination to a pupil only once and shall not administer the complete Michigan merit examination to the same pupil more than once. If a pupil does not take the complete Michigan merit examination in grade 11, the school district or public school academy shall administer the complete Michigan merit examination to the pupil in grade 12. If a pupil chooses to retake the college entrance examination component of the Michigan merit examination, as described in subsection (2)(a), the pupil may do so through the provider of the college entrance examination component and the cost of the retake is the responsibility of the pupil unless all of the following are met:
(a) The pupil has taken the complete Michigan merit examination.
(b) The pupil meets the income eligibility criteria for free breakfast, lunch, or milk, as determined under the Richard B. Russell national school lunch act, 42 USC 1751 to 1769j.
(c) The pupil has applied to the provider of the college entrance examination component for a scholarship or fee waiver to cover the cost of the retake and that application has been denied.
(d) After taking the complete Michigan merit examination, the pupil has not already received a free retake of the college entrance examination component paid for either by this state or through a scholarship or fee waiver by the provider.
(8) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the length of the Michigan merit examination and the combined total time necessary to administer all of the components of the Michigan merit examination are the shortest possible that will still maintain the degree of reliability and validity of the Michigan merit examination results determined necessary by the superintendent of public instruction. The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the maximum total combined length of time that schools are required to set aside for pupils to answer all test questions on the Michigan merit examination does not exceed 8 hours if the superintendent of public instruction determines that sufficient alignment to applicable Michigan merit curriculum content standards can be achieved within that time limit.
(9) A school district or public school academy shall provide accommodations to a pupil with disabilities for the Michigan merit examination, as provided under section 504 of title V of the rehabilitation act of 1973, 29 USC 794; subtitle part A of title subchapter II of the Americans with disabilities act of 1990, 42 USC 12131 to 12134; the individuals with disabilities education act amendments of 1997, Public Law 105-17; and the implementing regulations for those statutes. The provider or providers of the Michigan merit examination and the superintendent of public instruction shall mutually agree upon the accommodations to be provided under this subsection.
(10) To the greatest extent possible, the Michigan merit examination shall must be based on grade level content expectations or course content expectations, as appropriate. Not later than July 1, 2008, the department shall identify specific grade level content expectations to be taught before and after the middle of grade 11, so that teachers will know what content will be covered within the Michigan merit examination.
(11) A child who is a student in a nonpublic school or home school may take the Michigan merit examination under this section. To take the Michigan merit examination, a child who is a student in a home school shall contact the school district in which the child resides, and that school district shall administer the Michigan merit examination, or the child may take the Michigan merit examination at a nonpublic school if allowed by the nonpublic school. Upon request from a nonpublic school, the superintendent of public instruction shall direct the provider or providers to supply the Michigan merit examination to the nonpublic school and the nonpublic school may administer the Michigan merit examination. If a school district administers the Michigan merit examination under this subsection to a child who is not enrolled in the school district, the scores for that child are not considered for any purpose to be scores of a pupil of the school district.
(12) In contracting under subsection (2), the department of technology, management, and budget shall consider a contractor that provides electronically-scored electronically scored essays with the ability to score constructed response feedback in multiple languages and provide ongoing instruction and feedback.
(13) The purpose of the Michigan merit examination is to assess pupil performance in mathematics, science, social studies, and English language arts for the purpose of improving academic achievement and establishing a statewide standard of competency. The assessment under this section provides a common measure of data that will contribute to the improvement of Michigan schools' curriculum and instruction by encouraging alignment with Michigan's curriculum framework standards and promotes pupil participation in higher level mathematics, science, social studies, and English language arts courses. These standards are based upon the expectations of what pupils should learn through high school and are aligned with national standards.
(14) In addition to the other requirements of this section and the requirements of 1970 PA 38, MCL 388.1081 to 388.1086, beginning with assessments conducted during the 2016-2017 school year, the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the Michigan merit examination social studies component and the M-STEP and any successor state assessment for social studies, as appropriate, include questions related to the learning objectives in the state board recommended model core academic curriculum standards concerning genocide, including, but not limited to, the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide, and beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, the Holodomor Genocide.
(15) As used in this section:
(a) "Armenian Genocide", "genocide", and "Holocaust" mean those terms as defined in section 1168.
(b) "English language arts" means reading and writing.
(c) "Social studies" means United States history, world history, world geography, economics, and American government.
