GENOCIDE EDUCATION IN GRADES 8 TO 12

House Bill 5778

Sponsor:  Rep. Klint Kesto

Committee:  Education

Complete to 9-23-14

A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 5778 AS INTRODUCED 9-9-14

House Bill 5778 would amend the Revised School Code (MCL 380.1278) to require that Michigan's social studies curriculum and statewide assessment program include instruction and testing about genocides, including the Holocaust.  A more detailed description of the bill follows.

Under the bill the board of a school district or charter school must ensure that their schools' social studies curriculum for grades 8 to 12 include at least six hours each school year of age- and grade-appropriate instruction about genocides, including, but not limited to, the Holocaust.  The bill would allow these instructional topics to be included in other subject areas, and would count that instruction toward meeting the six-hour requirement.

Further, House Bill 5778 would require the State Board of Education to ensure that the recommended model core academic curriculum content standards for history in grades 8 to 12 include learning objectives concerning genocides, including, but not limited to, the Holocaust.

Finally, beginning with assessments conducted during the 2015-2016 school year, the state superintendent of public instruction would be required to ensure that the Michigan Merit Examination social studies component, and the Michigan Education Assessment Program assessments for social studies, include questions related to the learning objectives in the model core concerning genocides, including the Holocaust.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The bill would have an indeterminate fiscal impact for both the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) and school districts.  Michigan’s high school content expectations for social studies already include learning objectives on genocide, but there may be minimal cost for the MDE in ensuring that state assessments now include questions on genocide.   However, each school district determines its own curriculum, so the bill may create additional costs for a district in having to update its curriculum to the extent that it was not already covering genocide or was not providing a full 6 hours of instruction on the topic in each of grades 8-12.

                                                                                           Legislative Analyst:   J. Hunault

                                                                                                   Fiscal Analyst:   Bethany Wicksall

■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.