NY State Senate Bill 2017-S4925

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Education Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Mar 03, 2017	referred to education

2017-S4925 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A3972
Current Committee:: Senate Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §801, Ed L
Versions Introduced in 2015-2016 Legislative Session:: S7175, A9791

2017-S4925 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to instruction on the Garifuna people.

2017-S4925 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S4925

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the education law, in relation to
instruction on the Garifuna people

 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :

This purpose of this bill is to increase awareness and cultural
competency throughout the New York State community by making that
Garifuna people a mandatory part of our education curriculum.

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :

Section 1. Calls upon the regents of the university of the State of
New York to include the "the history of the Garifuna People" to a
previously established list of pedagogically important historical
topics. This section also ensures that there rules regarding
attendance during the instruction of this added materials, enforced by
the commissioner.

Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

 JUSTIFICATION :

The Garifuna are an ethnic group of mixed ancestry - descendants of
Carib, Arawak and African people living along the Caribbean Coast in

Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and St. Vincent and the
Grenadines. A seafaring people, they arrived in the United States as
merchant marines during World War II. Today, New York City is home to
the largest Garifuna population outside of Central America with an
estimated 200,000 living in the South Bronx, Brownsville and East New
York in Brooklyn, and Harlem.

This part of our population represents the growing Afro-Latino
representation within New York State. With the growing representation
it is important to make sure that the New York State community is
attuned to interacting and understanding the histories of our
neighbors. Garifuna history is not just Central American history but
also New York history. Adding the history of the Garifuna people to
our educational curriculum contributes to the bridging of cultural and
historical blind spots in our understanding of how New York became
what it is today.

The inclusion of the history of Garifuna people is not unprecedented
since New York State educates our students on other immigrant
histories such as: the Holocaust, mass starvation of Ireland from 1845
to 1850 and various other human rights issues related to genocide. The
inclusion of Garifuna history will educate a better New York workforce
that would have an understanding of not solely domestic and European
history, but also Latin American and Afro-diasporic.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2016: S.7175- REFERRED TO EDUCATION/A.9791-referred to education

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

To be determined.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the 1rst of next July.

2017-S4925 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4925
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               March 3, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  DIAZ  --  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
   Garifuna people
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 801 of the  education  law,
 as  amended  by  chapter 574 of the laws of 1997, are amended to read as
 follows:
   1. In order to promote a spirit of patriotic  and  civic  service  and
 obligation  and  to foster in the children of the state moral and intel-
 lectual qualities which are essential in preparing  to  meet  the  obli-
 gations of citizenship in peace or in war, the regents of The University
 of  the  State  of  New  York  shall prescribe courses of instruction in
 patriotism, citizenship, and human rights issues, with particular atten-
 tion to the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery (including  the
 freedom  trail  and underground railroad), the Holocaust, THE HISTORY OF
 THE GARIFUNA PEOPLE, and the mass starvation in  Ireland  from  1845  to
 1850, to be maintained and followed in all the schools of the state. The
 boards  of  education  and  trustees  of  the  several cities and school
 districts of the state shall require instruction to  be  given  in  such
 courses,  by  the  teachers  employed in the schools therein. All pupils
 attending such schools, over the age of eight years, shall  attend  upon
 such instruction.
   Similar  courses  of instruction shall be prescribed and maintained in
 private schools in the state, and all pupils in such schools over  eight
 years  of age shall attend upon such courses. If such courses are not so
 established and maintained in a private school, attendance upon instruc-
 tion in such school shall not  be  deemed  substantially  equivalent  to
 instruction  given  to  pupils  of like age in the public schools of the
 city or district in which such pupils reside.

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD07372-01-7

 S. 4925                             2
 
   3. The regents shall determine the subjects to  be  included  in  such
 courses  of  instruction  in  patriotism,  citizenship, and human rights
 issues, with particular attention to the  study  of  the  inhumanity  of
 genocide,  slavery  (including  the  freedom trail and underground rail-
 road),  the  Holocaust, THE HISTORY OF THE GARIFUNA PEOPLE, and the mass
 starvation in Ireland from 1845 to 1850, and in  the  history,  meaning,
 significance  and  effect  of  the provisions of the constitution of the
 United States, the amendments thereto, the declaration of  independence,
 the  constitution  of  the state of New York and the amendments thereto,
 and the period of instruction in each of the grades  in  such  subjects.
 They  shall  adopt  rules providing for attendance upon such instruction
 and for such other matters as are required for carrying into effect  the
 objects  and purposes of this section. The commissioner shall be respon-
 sible for the  enforcement  of  such  section  and  shall  cause  to  be
 inspected  and  supervise  the instruction to be given in such subjects.
 The commissioner may, in his discretion, cause all or a portion  of  the
 public  school money to be apportioned to a district or city to be with-
 held for failure of the school authorities of such district or  city  to
 provide  instruction  in such courses and to compel attendance upon such
 instruction, as herein prescribed, and for  a  non-compliance  with  the
 rules of the regents adopted as herein provided.
   §  2.  This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
 the date on which it shall have become a law.

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Senate Bill S4925

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Education Committee

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2017-S4925 (ACTIVE) - Details

2017-S4925 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2017-S4925 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2017-S4925 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

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Sponsored By

Ruben Diaz

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Education Committee

Actions

2017-S4925 (ACTIVE) - Details

2017-S4925 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2017-S4925 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2017-S4925 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments