Bill Caption

Relating to the social studies curriculum in public schools.

Fiscal Notes

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. 

Bill Analysis

SB 2202 would require the State Board of Education to adopt essential knowledge and skills for students' civic knowledge, including an understanding of the fundamental moral, political, and intellectual foundations of the American experiment in self-government, the history, qualities, traditions, and features of civic engagement in the United States, the structure, function, and processes of government institutions at the federal, state, and local levels, and the founding documents of the United States, including the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, the Federalist Papers, excerpts from Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, the first Lincoln-Douglas debate, and the writings of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

The bill prohibits, in the instruction of this civics education, teachers from requiring as credit, their students to engage in political activism, lobbying, or similar activities, and that the teacher may not teach the concept that any race or sex is superior to another, or that one race deserves different treatment from another.

Vote Recommendation Notes

Texas Action strongly supports SB 2202. Civics education as provided for by this bill would provide students a crucial understanding of our nation's founding and the philosophical underpinnings of the principles of liberty and limited government.