SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1635        FILED ON: 1/21/2011

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 183

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Harriette L. Chandler

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to design, pilot, and implement civics as a high school graduation requirement.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Harriette L. Chandler

 

Sonia Chang-Diaz

 

Kathi-Anne Reinstein

16th Suffolk

Byron Rushing

9th Suffolk

Eileen M. Donoghue

 

James B. Eldridge

 

Jennifer L. Flanagan

 

Michael O. Moore

 

Richard T. Moore

 

James Arciero

2nd Middlesex

Cory Atkins

14th Middlesex

Denise Andrews

2nd Franklin

Thomas P. Conroy

13th Middlesex

Gloria L. Fox

7th Suffolk

John P. Fresolo

16th Worcester

Sean Garballey

23rd Middlesex

Thomas A. Golden, Jr.

16th Middlesex

Kate Hogan

3rd Middlesex

Louis L. Kafka

8th Norfolk

Kay Khan

11th Middlesex

David M. Nangle

17th Middlesex

James J. O'Day

14th Worcester

Brian M. Ashe

2nd Hampden

Carl M. Sciortino, Jr.

34th Middlesex

Stephen Stat Smith

28th Middlesex

Richard Bastien

2nd Worcester

Frank I. Smizik

15th Norfolk

Ellen Story

3rd Hampshire

Michael F. Rush

Norfolk and Suffolk

Linda Campbell

15th Essex

Jason M. Lewis

31st Middlesex

Karen E. Spilka

 

Ruth B. Balser

12th Middlesex

Stephen L. DiNatale

3rd Worcester

Tom Sannicandro

7th Middlesex

Carolyn C. Dykema

8th Middlesex

Jonathan Hecht

29th Middlesex

Thomas M. Stanley

9th Middlesex

David B. Sullivan

6th Bristol


SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1635        FILED ON: 1/21/2011

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 183

By Ms. Chandler, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 183) of Harriette L. Chandler, Sonia Chang-Diaz, Kathi-Anne Reinstein, Byron Rushing and other members of the General Court for legislation to design civics as a high school graduation requirement.  Education.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the Year Two Thousand Eleven

_______________

 

An Act to design, pilot, and implement civics as a high school graduation requirement.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1:  Section 2 of Chapter 71 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is amended, in line 7, by inserting after “ … for the duties of citizenship.” The following:

Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Executive Office of Education, in collaboration with a youth advisory committee, shall develop a new curriculum for a High School Civics course which shall include but not be limited to: Function and composition of the branches of local, state, and federal government, the history of social movements, current events, and community-based action and service-learning projects. The curriculum shall be developed no later than May 1, 2012. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Executive Office of Education, in collaboration with a youth advisory committee, shall also develop a pilot program for the implementation of this course which shall begin no later than the beginning of the 2012-2013 academic school year. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Executive Office of Education, in collaboration with a youth advisory committee, shall also develop a plan for full implementation of this civics course as a high school graduation requirement to begin no later than the first day of the 2014-2015 academic school year.

SECTION 2:  There shall be a youth advisory committee consisting of 2 members of the Governor’s Youth Council, 2 members of the State Student Advisory Council, 1 member of the Special Commission on Civic Engagement and Learning, 5 members of Teens Leading The Way, and 2 youth designated by the Board of Education.

SECTION 3: The youth advisory committee, representatives from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Executive Office of Education shall convene their first meeting not later than 60 days after the effective date of this act.