A 410: Requires hate crime awareness curriculum or instruction for school districts.
The proposed law aims to require schools in New York to include hate crime awareness curriculum or instruction in their curriculum. This curriculum will cover topics such as recognizing discrimination and religious intolerance, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, and will provide students with skills, information, and guidance to promote acceptance, inclusion, and diversity in their communities. The content of the curriculum will be age-appropriate and developed according to the needs and abilities of pupils at successive grade levels. Schools can include the required curriculum as a component of their social studies curriculum or in any other manner they deem appropriate. The law will take effect on July 1st of the year following its enactment.
| Jan. 07, 2026 | referred to education |
| Jan. 08, 2025 | referred to education |
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 410 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. EICHENSTEIN, LEVENBERG, BURDICK -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education 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 Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 804-e 2 to read as follows: 3 § 804-e. Hate crime awareness curriculum or instruction. 1. The 4 commissioner, in consultation with the division of human rights and any 5 other appropriate agency, shall establish hate crime awareness curric- 6 ulum or instruction for school districts, including, but not limited to, 7 instruction on what discrimination and religious intolerance, including 8 anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, might look like as well as the positive 9 actions students can take to promote acceptance, inclusion, and the 10 diversity of their communities. The content of such curriculum or 11 instruction may be varied to meet the needs of particular school 12 districts, or portions thereof, and need not be uniform throughout the 13 state. The content of such curriculum or instruction shall be age 14 appropriate and shall be developed according to the needs and abilities 15 of pupils at successive grade levels in order to provide skills, infor- 16 mation, and guidance to aid in hate crime awareness. 17 2. Schools may include the curriculum or instruction required by this 18 section as a component of its social studies curriculum or in any other 19 manner the school deems appropriate. 20 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding 21 the date upon which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, 22 the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation neces- 23 sary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are 24 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. LBD01604-01-5