STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
265
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 4, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. STEWART-COUSINS -- 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 instruction on the
subject of the history of the Ukrainian Genocide-Holodomor of 1932 to
1933
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, the Ukrainian Genocide-Holodomor of 1932 to 1933,
14 and the mass starvation in Ireland from 1845 to 1850, to be maintained
15 and followed in all the schools of the state. The boards of education
16 and trustees of the several cities and school districts of the state
17 shall require instruction to be given in such courses, by the teachers
18 employed in the schools therein. All pupils attending such schools, over
19 the age of 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-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02235-01-3
S. 265 2
1 tion in such school shall not be deemed substantially equivalent to
2 instruction given to pupils of like age in the public schools of the
3 city or district in which such pupils reside.
4 3. The regents shall determine the subjects to be included in such
5 courses of instruction in patriotism, citizenship, civic education and
6 values, our shared history of diversity, the role of history of diversi-
7 ty, the role of religious tolerance in this country, and human rights
8 issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of
9 genocide, slavery (including the freedom trail and underground rail-
10 road), the Holocaust, the Ukrainian Genocide-Holodomor of 1932 to 1933,
11 and the mass starvation in Ireland from 1845 to 1850, and in the histo-
12 ry, meaning, significance and effect of the provisions of the constitu-
13 tion of the United States, the amendments thereto, the declaration of
14 independence, the constitution of the state of New York and the amend-
15 ments thereto, and the period of instruction in each of the grades in
16 such subjects. They shall adopt rules providing for attendance upon such
17 instruction and for such other matters as are required for carrying into
18 effect the objects and purposes of this section. The commissioner shall
19 be responsible for the enforcement of such section and shall cause to be
20 inspected and supervise the instruction to be given in such subjects.
21 The commissioner may, in his discretion, cause all or a portion of the
22 public school money to be apportioned to a district or city to be with-
23 held for failure of the school authorities of such district or city to
24 provide instruction in such courses and to compel attendance upon such
25 instruction, as herein prescribed, and for a non-compliance with the
26 rules of the regents adopted as herein provided.
27 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
28 the date on which it shall have become a law.
