Enacts Firefighter Joseph P. Spor Jr.'s Law; requires the commissioner of education to establish September eleventh awareness curriculum or instruction for school districts; requires the education department to make curriculum materials and other resources regarding September eleventh available on its website.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7919--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 11, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SLATER, MORINELLO, SMULLEN, McDONOUGH, K. BROWN,
RA, SIMPSON, BENDETT, NORBER, BEEPHAN, ANGELINO -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Education -- recommitted to the Committee
on Education in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to enacting Firefighter
Joseph P. Spor Jr.'s Law requiring the establishment of September
eleventh awareness curriculum or instruction for school districts
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 "Firefighter Joseph P. Spor Jr.'s Law".
3 § 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 820 to read
4 as follows:
5 § 820. September eleventh awareness curriculum or instruction. 1.
6 Within one year of the effective date of this section, the commissioner,
7 in consultation with any appropriate agency, shall establish September
8 eleventh (9/11) awareness curriculum or instruction for school districts
9 regarding the September eleventh, two thousand one attacks on the United
10 States of America and their ongoing repercussions. The content of such
11 curriculum or instruction may be varied to meet the needs of particular
12 school districts, or portions thereof, and need not be uniform through-
13 out the state.
14 2. The content of such curriculum or instruction shall include the
15 following core tenets and themes:
16 (a) the historical context of terrorism;
17 (b) the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and
18 United Airlines Flight 93 which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania;
19 (c) American recovery and response to the attacks;
20 (d) global challenges and consequences in a post-9/11 world;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07430-02-6
A. 7919--A 2
1 (e) examples of heroism, resilience, and service that emerged during
2 and after 9/11 from people all over the world; and
3 (f) the global response to terrorism following the events of 9/11.
4 3. The department shall make available on its website curriculum mate-
5 rials and other available resources regarding the events and signif-
6 icance of September eleventh, two thousand one, for voluntary use by
7 school entities. The educational resources used in the curriculum or
8 instruction shall be age appropriate, factually accurate, and sourced
9 from reputable sources, and shall aid in students' understanding of what
10 happened on 9/11 and in its aftermath, and the continuing importance of
11 the attacks today.
12 4. A school may include the curriculum or instruction required by this
13 section as a component of its social studies curriculum or in any other
14 manner such school deems appropriate.
15 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
16 the date upon which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately,
17 the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation neces-
18 sary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are
19 authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
