STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4631
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 13, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. LANZA -- 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 including the Sandy
Ground community in the education curriculum
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), Staten Island's Sandy Ground community, the oldest continuously
14 inhabited free black settlement in the United States, the Holocaust, and
15 the mass starvation in Ireland from 1845 to 1850, to be maintained and
16 followed in all the schools of the state. The boards of education and
17 trustees of the several cities and school districts of the state shall
18 require instruction to be given in such courses, by the teachers
19 employed in the schools therein. All pupils attending such schools, over
20 the age of eight years, shall attend upon such instruction.
21 Similar courses of instruction shall be prescribed and maintained in
22 private schools in the state, and all pupils in such schools over eight
23 years of age shall attend upon such courses. If such courses are not so
24 established and maintained in a private school, attendance upon instruc-
25 tion in such school shall not be deemed substantially equivalent to
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02035-01-3
S. 4631 2
1 instruction given to pupils of like age in the public schools of the
2 city or district in which such pupils reside.
3 3. The regents shall determine the subjects to be included in such
4 courses of instruction in patriotism, citizenship, civic education and
5 values, our shared history of diversity, the role of history of diversi-
6 ty, the role of religious tolerance in this country, and human rights
7 issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of
8 genocide, slavery (including the freedom trail and underground
9 railroad), Staten Island's Sandy Ground community, the oldest contin-
10 uously inhabited free black settlement in the United States, the Holo-
11 caust, and the mass starvation in Ireland from 1845
12 to 1850, and in the history, meaning, significance and effect of the
13 provisions of the constitution of the United States, the amendments
14 thereto, the declaration of independence, the constitution of the state
15 of New York and the amendments thereto, and the period of instruction in
16 each of the grades in such subjects. They shall adopt rules providing
17 for attendance upon such instruction and for such other matters as are
18 required for carrying into effect the objects and purposes of this
19 section. The commissioner shall be responsible for the enforcement of
20 such section and shall cause to be inspected and supervise the instruc-
21 tion to be given in such subjects. The commissioner may, in his
22 discretion, cause all or a portion of the public school money to be
23 apportioned to a district or city to be withheld for failure of the
24 school authorities of such district or city to provide instruction in
25 such courses and to compel attendance upon such instruction, as herein
26 prescribed, and for a non-compliance with the rules of the regents
27 adopted as herein provided.
28 § 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.
