STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6359--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 23, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sens. LIU, COONEY, GOUNARDES, KAVANAGH, STAVISKY, THOMAS
-- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to
the Committee on Education -- committee discharged, bill amended,
ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring public
elementary schools and high schools to provide instruction in Asian
American history and civic impact
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 801-b
2 to read as follows:
3 § 801-b. Courses of study in Asian American history and civic impact.
4 1. The board of regents is authorized and directed to establish and
5 develop a course of study in the events of Asian American history. Such
6 course of study shall be required for all students in public elementary
7 school and high school and may be included as part of the history or
8 social studies curriculum of such schools. Instruction shall be provided
9 by the teachers employed in the schools therein. Such instruction shall
10 include, but shall not be limited to, instruction in the following:
11 a. The history of Asian Americans in New York and the Northeast;
12 b. The contributions of Asian Americans toward advancing civil rights
13 from the nineteenth century onward;
14 c. The contributions made by individual Asian Americans in government
15 and the arts, humanities and sciences; and
16 d. The contributions of Asian American communities to the economic,
17 cultural, social and political development of the United States.
18 2. The commissioner, shall provide technical assistance to assist in
19 the development of curricula for such courses of study which shall be
20 age appropriate and developed according to the needs and abilities of
21 students at successive grade levels in order to provide understanding,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11024-03-1
S. 6359--A 2
1 awareness, skills, information and support to aid in the knowledge of
2 Asian American history and civic impact.
3 3. The regents shall adopt rules providing for attendance of such
4 courses of study and for such other matters as are required for effectu-
5 ating the purposes of this section. The commissioner shall be responsi-
6 ble for the enforcement of such section and shall cause to be inspected
7 and supervise the instruction to be given. The commissioner may, in his
8 or her discretion, cause all or a portion of the public school money to
9 be apportioned to a district or city to be withheld for non-compliance
10 with the rules of the regents adopted as herein provided and to compel
11 attendance in such instruction, as herein prescribed.
12 4. The commissioner shall make available to all public elementary and
13 high schools in the state suitable curriculum materials to aid in the
14 instruction of students in Asian American history and civic impact and
15 shall promulgate rules and regulations governing such courses of study.
16 5. Completion of such courses of study shall constitute an affirmation
17 by students of their commitment to respect the dignity of all races and
18 peoples and to forever eschew every form of discrimination in their
19 lives and careers.
20 6. A school may meet the requirements of this section through an
21 online course or program.
22 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
23 the date on which it shall have become a law.
