STATE OF NEW YORK
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8959
IN SENATE
January 21, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. WEBER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requirements for a
course of instruction relating to the potato famine in Ireland
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 801 of the education law,
2 as amended by section 27 of part A of chapter 56 of the laws of 2020,
3 are amended to read as follows:
4 1. In order to promote a spirit of patriotic and civic service and
5 obligation and to foster in the children of the state moral and intel-
6 lectual qualities which are essential in preparing to meet the obli-
7 gations of citizenship in peace or in war, the regents of The University
8 of the State of New York shall prescribe courses of instruction in
9 patriotism, citizenship, civic education and values, our shared history
10 of diversity, the role of religious tolerance in this country, and human
11 rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity
12 of genocide, slavery (including the freedom trail and underground rail-
13 road), the Holocaust, and the potato famine which resulted in mass star-
14 vation in Ireland from 1845 to 1850, to be maintained and followed in
15 all the schools of the state. The boards of education and trustees of
16 the several cities and school districts of the state shall require
17 instruction to be given in such courses, by the teachers employed in the
18 schools therein. All pupils attending such schools, over the age of
19 eight years, shall attend upon such instruction.
20 Similar courses of instruction shall be prescribed and maintained in
21 private schools in the state, and all pupils in such schools over eight
22 years of age shall attend upon such courses. If such courses are not so
23 established and maintained in a private school, attendance upon instruc-
24 tion in such school shall not be deemed substantially equivalent to
25 instruction given to pupils of like age in the public schools of the
26 city or district in which such pupils reside.
27 3. The regents shall determine the subjects to be included in such
28 courses of instruction in patriotism, citizenship, civic education and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14272-01-5
S. 8959 2
1 values, our shared history of diversity, the role of history of diversi-
2 ty, the role of religious tolerance in this country, and human rights
3 issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of
4 genocide, slavery (including the freedom trail and underground rail-
5 road), the Holocaust, and the potato famine which resulted in mass star-
6 vation in Ireland from 1845 to 1850, in accordance with section eight
7 hundred one-b of this article, and in the history, meaning, significance
8 and effect of the provisions of the constitution of the United States,
9 the amendments thereto, the declaration of independence, the constitu-
10 tion of the state of New York and the amendments thereto, and the period
11 of instruction in each of the grades in such subjects. They shall adopt
12 rules providing for attendance upon such instruction and for such other
13 matters as are required for carrying into effect the objects and
14 purposes of this section. The commissioner shall be responsible for the
15 enforcement of such section and shall cause to be inspected and super-
16 vise the instruction to be given in such subjects. The commissioner may,
17 in [his] their discretion, cause all or a portion of the public school
18 money to be apportioned to a district or city to be withheld for failure
19 of the school authorities of such district or city to provide instruc-
20 tion in such courses and to compel attendance upon such instruction, as
21 herein prescribed, and for a non-compliance with the rules of the
22 regents adopted as herein provided.
23 § 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 801-b to
24 read as follows:
25 § 801-b. Instruction relating to the Irish potato famine. Every public
26 elementary school and high school shall include in its curriculum a unit
27 of instruction studying the potato famine which resulted in mass starva-
28 tion in Ireland from 1845 to 1850.
29 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
30 the date on which it shall have become a law.
