What's happening
This bill requires New York schools to implement a hate crime awareness curriculum focused on discrimination, religious intolerance, and promoting inclusion.
Why it matters
Directly responds to rising incidents of hate crimes in schools. by mandating instruction not only about the nature of hate crimes but also about recognizing and addressing discrimination, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia—helping students identify and challenge these behaviors early.
Empowers students with actionable strategies. to promote acceptance, inclusion, and diversity in their communities, emphasizing positive roles students can play rather than only focusing on problems.
Allows flexibility for local adaptation. so that the curriculum can be tailored to the specific needs, demographics, and challenges of each school district, rather than imposing a one-size-fits-all approach.
Integrates hate crime awareness into existing educational frameworks. (such as social studies), making implementation more feasible and ensuring the topic becomes a regular part of student learning rather than a separate or optional lesson.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
School districts and teachers
Schools would provide age-appropriate hate crime awareness instruction, with flexibility to incorporate it into social studies or deliver it another way.
State education commissioner and Division of Human Rights
The commissioner would establish the curriculum or instruction in consultation with the division and any other appropriate agency, allowing content to vary by district and grade level.
Students
Instruction would address recognizing discrimination and religious intolerance and taking positive actions to promote acceptance, inclusion and community diversity.
Jewish and Muslim communities
The required instructional content would explicitly address anti-Semitism and Islamophobia as forms of religious intolerance.
Headline styles
Teach Hate Crime Awareness
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 7
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Print number 7199a
- Amend and recommit to education
- Referred to education
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Teach Hate Crime Awareness
In Assembly Committee · Education · Sponsor Simcha Eichenstein
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
7199--A
IN SENATE
January 10, 2020
Introduced by Sens. KAPLAN, GOUNARDES -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education -committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring hate crime awareness curriculum or instruction for school districts
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 804-e to read as follows:
§ 804-e. Hate crime awareness curriculum or instruction. 1. The commissioner, in consultation with the division of human rights and any other appropriate agency, shall establish hate crime awareness curriculum or instruction for school districts, including, but not limited to, instruction on what discrimination and religious intolerance, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, might look like as well as the positive actions students can take to promote acceptance, inclusion, and the diversity of their communities. The content of such curriculum or instruction may be varied to meet the needs of particular school districts, or portions thereof, and need not be uniform throughout the state. The content of such curriculum or instruction shall be age appropriate and shall be developed according to the needs and abilities of pupils at successive grade levels in order to provide skills, information, and guidance to aid in hate crime awareness.
2. Schools may include the curriculum or instruction required by this section as a component of its social studies curriculum or in any other manner the school deems appropriate.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding the date upon which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14685-06-0
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the education law, in relation to requiring hate crime awareness curriculum or instruction for school districts
Purpose
To create a hate crimes curriculum or instruction on discrimination and religious intolerance including anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 creates new section 804-e of the education law creating a hate crime awareness curriculum or instruction. The commissioner in consulta- tion with the Division of Human Rights and any other appropriate agency shall establish hate crime awareness curriculum or instruction for school districts, including but not limited to instruction on what discrimination, religious intolerance including anti-Semitism, anti-Mus- lim bias might look like in a school as well as the positive actions students can take to promote acceptance, inclusion, and the diversity of their communities. Allows for age appropriate curriculum to be varied across the state to meet the particular needs of students. Allows for inclusion in the Social Studies curriculum or in any other manner a school deems appropriate.
Section 2 is the effective date.
Justification
Hate has no place here. With a disturbing increase in the number of anti-Semitic, and Islamophobic attacks and assaults occurring in New York we must work on multiple fronts to combat the scourge of hate, intolerance, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia. One of these critical ways is to ensure that our children, the most precious of all are taught from an early age to identify discrimination and religious intolerance including hate, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia; and how to fight back by promoting acceptance and inclusion while embracing the diversity that is New York. This legislation creates age appropriate curriculum to engage our students from an early age to be accepting and inclusive of all, and to identify and fight back against those who practice hate, anti-Semi- tism, Islamophobia, discrimination and religious intolerance.
Legislative history
None.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the July 1 next succeeding.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.