By Mark D. Killian
Managing Editor

Concerned that students are not getting the information and tools they need for civic participation, Rep. Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville, is championing legislation that will bolster the study of local, state, and federal governments in Florida’s schools.

HB 105 would add the following requirements for civics education:

• Requires the reading portion of the language arts curriculum within the Sunshine State Standards to include civics education content for all grade levels beginning with the 2011-2012 school year.

• Beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, students entering sixth grade would be required to successfully complete a one-semester civics education course in order to be promoted.

McBurney, a business lawyer, dubbed the bill the “Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Civics Education Act.” Justice O’Connor visited the Florida Legislature last year as part of her nationwide tour touting the importance of civics education and told lawmakers, “We must take action to reverse the trend of removing civics from our schools before cynicism begins to suffocate our democracy.”

McBurney’s bill requires the middle school civics education course to address the roles and responsibilities of federal, state, and local governments; the structures and functions of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government; and the meaning and significance of historic documents, such as the Articles of Confederation, Declaration of Independence, and U.S. Constitution.

During the 2012-2013 school year, a statewide, standardized end-of-course assessment in civics education would be administered as a field test at the middle school level, and during the 2013-2014 school year, each student’s performance on the end-of-course assessment in civics education must constitute 30 percent of the student’s final course grade. Beginning with the 2014-2015 school year, a student would have to earn a passing score on the end-of-course assessment in civics education in order to pass the course.

Current law requires middle school students to successfully complete, among other courses, three middle school or higher courses in social studies in order to be promoted. One semester of the three social studies courses must include the study of state and federal government and civics education.

McBurney’s bill seeks to get students to discuss basic questions, such as:

• What are civic life, politics, and government?

• What are the foundations of the American political system?

• How does the government established by the Constitution embody the purpose, values, and principles of American democracy?

• What is the relationship of the United States to other nations and world affairs?

• What are the roles of citizens in American democracy?

The bill passed out of the Education Policy Council February 17 and was on the House’s second reading calendar as this News went to press.

The Senate counterpart, SB 1096, sponsored by Sen. Nancy Detert, R- Venice, is now in Education Pre-K-12 Appropriations.