A 7919: Enacts Firefighter Joseph P. Spor Jr.'s Law; requires the commissioner of education to establish September eleventh awareness curriculum or instruction for school districts; requires the education department to make curriculum materials and other resources regarding September eleventh available on its website.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7919 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY April 11, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SLATER -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to enacting Firefighter Joseph P. Spor Jr.'s Law requiring the establishment of September eleventh 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. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 "Firefighter Joseph P. Spor Jr.'s Law". 3 § 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 819 to read 4 as follows: 5 § 819. September eleventh awareness curriculum or instruction. 1. 6 Within one year of the effective date of this section, the commissioner, 7 in consultation with any appropriate agency, shall establish September 8 eleventh (9/11) awareness curriculum or instruction for school districts 9 regarding the September eleventh, two thousand one attacks on the United 10 States of America and their ongoing repercussions. The content of such 11 curriculum or instruction may be varied to meet the needs of particular 12 school districts, or portions thereof, and need not be uniform through- 13 out the state. 14 2. The content of such curriculum or instruction shall include the 15 following core tenets and themes: 16 (a) the historical context of terrorism; 17 (b) the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and 18 United Airlines Flight 93 which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania; 19 (c) American recovery and response to the attacks; 20 (d) global challenges and consequences in a post-9/11 world; 21 (e) examples of heroism, resilience, and service that emerged during 22 and after 9/11 from people all over the world; and 23 (f) the global response to terrorism following the events of 9/11. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD07430-01-5 
 A. 7919 2 1 3. The department shall make available on its website curriculum mate- 2 rials and other available resources regarding the events and signif- 3 icance of September eleventh, two thousand one, for voluntary use by 4 school entities. The educational resources used in the curriculum or 5 instruction shall be age appropriate, factually accurate, and sourced 6 from reputable sources, and shall aid in students' understanding of what 7 happened on 9/11 and in its aftermath, and the continuing importance of 8 the attacks today. 9 4. A school may include the curriculum or instruction required by this 10 section as a component of its social studies curriculum or in any other 11 manner such school deems appropriate. 12 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding 13 the date upon which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, 14 the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation neces- 15 sary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are 16 authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.