103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
HB2490

 

Introduced 2/15/2023, by Rep. Kam Buckner

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
105 ILCS 5/27-23.17 new

    Amends the Courses of Study Article of the School Code. Provides that every public school shall include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of the civil rights movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968, the natural law and natural rights principles that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., drew from and that informed his leadership of the civil rights movement, and the tactics and strategies of nonviolent resistance that he championed in response to the Jim Crow laws of that era. Provides that the curriculum shall include an additional unit of instruction studying other acts of discriminatory injustice, such as genocide, elsewhere around the globe. Provides that the State Board of Education shall prepare and make available to all school boards instructional materials that may be used as guidelines for development of the units of instruction. Allows a school board to determine the minimum amount of instructional time required. Effective immediately.


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STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT
MAY APPLY

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB2490LRB103 25671 RJT 52020 b

1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section
527-23.17 as follows:
 
6    (105 ILCS 5/27-23.17 new)
7    Sec. 27-23.17. Civil rights and discriminatory injustice
8study.
9    (a) Every public elementary school and high school shall
10include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the
11events of the civil rights movement in the United States from
121954 to 1968, the natural law and natural rights principles
13that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., drew from and
14that informed his leadership of the civil rights movement, and
15the tactics and strategies of nonviolent resistance that he
16championed in response to the Jim Crow laws of that era. This
17period in American history is known as the Civil Rights Era
18because, during this period, reform-minded Americans organized
19to press for a rejection of the doctrine of "separate but
20equal" and to repeal the Jim Crow laws of that era in parts of
21the United States that embodied that doctrine. One of the
22universal lessons of the Civil Rights Era is that hatred on the
23basis of immutable characteristics, not just race or ethnicity

 

 

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1but also characteristics such as nationality, religious
2belief, disability, or sex, can overtake any nation or
3society, leading to profound injustice.
4    To reinforce that lesson, the curriculum shall include an
5additional unit of instruction under this Section and in
6addition to the unit of instruction under Section 27-20.3
7studying other acts of discriminatory injustice, such as
8genocide, elsewhere around the globe. This additional unit of
9instruction shall include, but not be limited to, the Armenian
10Genocide, the Holocaust, Chinese labor in Cuba, the Uyghurs in
11China, and the Rohingya of Myanmar.
12    The studying of the material under this Section is a
13reaffirmation of the commitment of the free peoples of this
14State to reject bigotry, to champion equal protection under
15the law as a foundational principle of our republic, and to act
16in opposition to injustice wherever it may occur.
17    (b) The State Board of Education shall prepare and make
18available to all school boards instructional materials that
19may be used as guidelines for development of the units of
20instruction under this Section.
21    (c) Each school board shall determine the minimum amount
22of instructional time required under this Section.
 
23    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
24becoming law.