HB5333 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB098 17747 NHT 52867 b

98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2013 and 2014
HB5333

Introduced , by Rep. Monique D. Davis

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/27-20.4

from Ch. 122, par. 27-20.4

Amends the School Code. Requires a school district, at the end of each school year, to file a report with the State Board of Education that summarizes each school's instruction on Black History for that school year. Provides that, on or before August 1 of each year, the State Board of Education shall compile these reports into a statewide report and file the statewide report with the General Assembly.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning education.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section 27-20.4 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/27-20.4) (from Ch. 122, par. 27-20.4)

Sec. 27-20.4. Black History Study. Every public elementary school and high school shall include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of Black History, including the history of the African slave trade, slavery in America, and the vestiges of slavery in this country. These events shall include not only the contributions made by individual African-Americans in government and in the arts, humanities and sciences to the economic, cultural and political development of the United States and Africa, but also the socio-economic struggle which African-Americans experienced collectively in striving to achieve fair and equal treatment under the laws of this nation. The studying of this material shall constitute an affirmation by students of their commitment to respect the dignity of all races and peoples and to forever eschew every form of discrimination in their lives and careers.

The State Superintendent of Education may prepare and make available to all school boards instructional materials, including those established by the Amistad Commission, which may be used as guidelines for development of a unit of instruction under this Section; provided, however, that each school board shall itself determine the minimum amount of instruction time which shall qualify as a unit of instruction satisfying the requirements of this Section.

At the end of each school year, a school district must file a report with the State Board of Education that summarizes each school's instruction on Black History for that school year. On or before August 1 of each year, the State Board of Education shall compile these reports into a statewide report and file the statewide report with the General Assembly as provided in Section 3.1 of the General Assembly Organization Act.

(Source: P.A. 94-285, eff. 7-21-05.)