CODING:
Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
1003.42
Required instruction.--
(1) Each
district school board shall provide all courses required for middle grades
promotion, high school graduation, and appropriate instruction designed to
ensure that students meet State Board of Education adopted standards in the
following subject areas: reading and other language arts, mathematics, science,
social studies, foreign languages, health and physical education, and the arts.
(2) Members
of the instructional staff of the public schools, subject to the rules of the
State Board of Education and the district school board, shall teach efficiently
and faithfully, using the books and materials required that meet the highest
standards for professionalism and historic accuracy, following the
prescribed courses of study, and employing approved methods of instruction, the
following:
(a) The history
and content of the Declaration of Independence, including national
sovereignty, natural law, self-evident truth, equality of all persons, limited
government, popular sovereignty, and inalienable rights of life, liberty, and
property, and how they form it forms the philosophical
foundation of our government.
(b) The
history, meaning, significance, and effect of the provisions of the
Constitution of the United States and amendments thereto, with emphasis on each
of the 10 amendments that make up the Bill of Rights and how the constitution
provides the structure of our government.
(c)(b) The arguments in support of
adopting our republican form of government, as they are embodied in the most
important of the Federalist Papers.
(c) The
essentials of the United States Constitution and how it provides the structure
of our government.
(d) Flag
education, including proper flag display and flag salute.
(e) The elements of civil government, including the primary
functions of and interrelationships between the Federal Government, the state,
and its counties, municipalities, school districts, and special districts.
(f) The
history of the United States, including the period of discovery, early
colonies, the War for Independence, the Civil War, the expansion of the United
States to its present boundaries, the world wars, and the civil rights movement
to the present. American history shall be viewed as factual, not as constructed,
shall be viewed as knowable, teachable, and testable, and shall be defined as
the creation of a new nation based largely on the universal principles stated
in the Declaration of
(g)(f) The history of the Holocaust
(1933-1945), the systematic, planned annihilation of European Jews and other
groups by Nazi Germany, a watershed event in the history of humanity, to be
taught in a manner that leads to an investigation of human behavior, an
understanding of the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping, and
an examination of what it means to be a responsible and respectful person, for
the purposes of encouraging tolerance of diversity in a pluralistic society and
for nurturing and protecting democratic values and institutions.
(h)(g) The history of African Americans,
including the history of African peoples before the political conflicts that
led to the development of slavery, the passage to America, the enslavement
experience, abolition, and the contributions of African Americans to society.
(i)(h) The elementary principles of
agriculture.
(j)(i) The true effects of all alcoholic
and intoxicating liquors and beverages and narcotics upon the human body and mind.
(k)(j) Kindness to animals.
(l)(k) The history of the state.
(m)(l) The conservation of natural
resources. 1185
(n)(m) Comprehensive health education that
addresses concepts of community health; consumer health; environmental health;
family life, including an awareness of the benefits of sexual abstinence as the
expected standard and the consequences of teenage pregnancy; mental and
emotional health; injury prevention and safety; nutrition; personal health;
prevention and control of disease; and substance use and abuse.
(o)(n) Such additional materials,
subjects, courses, or fields in such grades as are prescribed by law or by
rules of the State Board of Education and the district school board in fulfilling
the requirements of law.
(p)(o) The study of Hispanic contributions
to the
(q)(p) The study of women's contributions
to the
(r) The
nature and importance of free enterprise to the
(s)(q) A character-development program in
the elementary schools, similar to Character First or Character Counts, which is
secular in nature and stresses such character qualities as attentiveness,
patience, and initiative. Beginning in school year 2004-2005, the
character-development program shall be required in kindergarten through grade
12. Each district school board shall develop or adopt a curriculum for the
character- development program that shall be submitted to the department for
approval. The character-development curriculum shall stress the qualities of
patriotism;, responsibility;, citizenship;,
kindness;, respect for authority, life, liberty, and personal property;,
honesty; charity;, self-control;, racial,
ethnic, and religious tolerance;, and cooperation.
(t)(r) In order to encourage patriotism,
the sacrifices that veterans have made in serving our country and protecting democratic
values worldwide. Such instruction must occur on or before Veterans' Day and
Memorial Day. Members of the instructional staff are encouraged to use the
assistance of local veterans when practicable.
The
State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards and pursue assessment
of the requirements of this subsection.