State Lawmakers Make Curricular Demands of Schools

It’s not unusual for lawmakers to debate aspects of the American political system, but a recent discussion in Utah’s House of Representatives wasn’t merely theoretical.

The bill under consideration, since signed into law, requires public schools to teach that the United States is a “compound constitutional republic.” The curriculum also must provide a “thorough study” of key historical documents, it says, such as the U.S. Constitution, the Mayflower Compact, and Supreme Court decisions.

Speaking in opposition, Rep. Carol Spackman Moss said the bill represented a “slippery slope”—indeed a “double black diamond slope”—of legislative interference. “A ‘no’ vote on this just would say, we don’t believe in micromanaging the curriculum,” the Democrat argued.

Although decisions on what gets taught are usually seen as the purview of school districts and state school boards, the legislators in Utah aren’t the first, and certainly won’t be the last, state lawmakers to try to influence the curriculum. Other recent examples span the country and content areas—civics and science, financial literacy, arts education, sex education, and anti-bullying measures that call on schools to work the issue into health classes.

Especially in a time of tight state and district budgets, and in the face of an already crowded curriculum, some observers suggest that such measures can prove particularly burdensome.

But whether sponsored by Republicans or Democrats, the legislative proposals keep coming.

In California, a bill approved in mid-April by the state Senate would require public schools to incorporate the history and contributions of homosexuals into social studies classes. The Tennessee House of Representatives last month passed a bill that would require state and local educational authorities to “assist teachers to find effective ways to present the science curriculum as it addresses scientific controversies,” including evolution and global warming. It also would protect teachers from disciplinary action for analyzing and critiquing those topics.

And Wisconsin lawmakers in late 2009 pushed through a mandate to revamp the state’s social studies standards to include teaching the history of labor unions and collective bargaining—a requirement that’s taken on an ironic cast with a new legislature’s curbs on public-employee unions.

Lessons From the Statehouse

Lawmakers have introduced, and in some cases passed, legislation mandating additions to or changes in the curriculum taught in public schools. Recent examples include:

CALIFORNIA
SB 48 | Status: Senate approved, April 14, 2011
Adds lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, as well as persons with disabilities, to the list of groups whose roles and contributions must be “accurately portrayed” in social-science instruction and instructional materials. Prohibits the state or districts from adopting textbooks or other instructional materials that “reflect adversely” on a person’s sexual orientation.

FLORIDA
HB 105 | Status: Gov. Charlie Crist signed, May 11, 2010
Requires the successful completion of at least one semester-long civics education course in the middle grades. Students must pass a new end-of-course assessment in civics to receive course credit.

MASSACHUSETTS
SB 2313 | Status: Gov. Deval Patrick signed, May 3, 2010
Requires the state to set academic standards for instruction in bullying prevention and requires both public and private schools to provide age-appropriate instruction on the topic.

NEW JERSEY
AB 2920 | Status: Assembly approved, March 14, 2011; Senate approved, March 21, 2011
Requires the state to develop a policy for school district dating violence and requires all districts to incorporate age-appropriate dating-violence education into health curriculum.

NORTH DAKOTA
HB 1412 | Status: House defeated, 47-47, Feb. 18, 2011
Requires school districts to teach concepts of personal finance at least once during the 6th, 7th, or 8th grade.

TENNESSEE
HB 368 | Status: House passed, April 7
Requires state and local educational authorities to “assist teachers to find effective ways to present the science curriculum as it addresses scientific controversies,” including evolution and global warming. Prohibits state or local authorities from preventing a teacher from helping students “understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course.”

UTAH
HB 220 | Status: Gov. Gary R. Herbert signed, March 25, 2011
Requires American history and government instruction to address forms of government, including the United States as a “compound constitutional republic. Requires school curricula to include a “thorough study” of American historical documents, such as the U.S. Constitution, the Mayflower Compact and Supreme Court decisions

WISCONSIN
AB 172 | Status: Gov. James E. Doyle signed, Dec. 10, 2009
Requires the inclusion of “the history of organized labor in America and the collective bargaining process” in the state’s model academic standards for social studies.

SOURCE: Education Week

Michael W. Kirst, a professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, said lawmakers in California and elsewhere have long tried to wade into the curriculum.

In contrast, the federal government is prohibited from doing so by language in the law establishing the U.S. Department of Education, as well as in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

“They usually insert very narrow things that are disconnected from the broader flow of the curriculum,” Mr. Kirst said of state legislators. “[The measures] pile up over the years and lead to somewhat of a disjointed process.”

‘Checks and Balances’

In Utah, Republicans led by Rep. Michael T. Morley championed the civics education bill, which ...

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