GENOCIDE EDUCATION                                                                        H.B. 4493 (H-1):

                                                                                                    SUMMARY OF BILL

                                                                                      REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

House Bill 4493 (Substitute H-1 as reported without amendment)

Sponsor:  Representative Klint Kesto

House Committee:  Education

Senate Committee:  Education

CONTENT

The bill would amend the Revised School Code to do the following:

-- Create the Governor's Council on Genocide and Holocaust Education as a temporary advisory commission.

-- Require the Council to consist of 15 appointed members having a particular interest or expertise in genocide or Holocaust education.

-- Require the Governor to appoint the Council members if sufficient private funding were available, and provide that State funds could not be used for the Council's operations.

-- Specify the Council's responsibilities, such as identifying sources of strategies and content for providing genocide education to students.

-- Require the Council to secure private funding for itself.

-- Require the board of a school district or board of directors of a PSA to ensure that its social studies curriculum for grades 8 to 12 included instruction about genocide, including the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide.

-- Require the State Board of Education to ensure that the recommended model core academic curriculum content standards for history for grades 8 to 12 included learning objectives concerning genocide.

-- Require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to ensure that State assessments for social studies included questions related to the learning objectives concerning genocide.

MCL 380.1178 et al.                                                          Legislative Analyst:  Jeff Mann

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill would have a negative, indeterminate fiscal impact on the Department of Education and school districts and public school academies. The Department would experience minor costs in ensuring that the required curriculum content was included both in the recommended model core academic curriculum content standards and in State assessments. At this time, the costs to update content standards and the assessments are unknown. Due to the prohibition against the use of State funds to support the Council on Genocide and Holocaust Education, there would be no fiscal impact on the State due to the creation of the Council.

School districts and PSAs would experience costs to implement the new social studies curriculum standards. The total costs cannot be quantified due to differences in school procedures and resources. Since the bill includes a legislative recommendation for just six hours of instruction on genocide between 8^th and 12^th grade, the costs likely would be minimum and within current appropriations.

Date Completed:  4-27-16                                                     Fiscal Analyst:  Cory Savino

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.