Photo by Aiden Guinnip on Unsplash.
Two new bills introduced in the New York Senate offer similar, though not identical, proposals for supporting climate change education in the state's public schools.
Senate Bill 654 would, if enacted, require the state commissioner of education to "create and require climate change instruction within the current established science curriculum" for grades one through twelve of New York's public schools. Correspondingly, school authorities would be required to support the instruction. The bill was introduced by James Sanders Jr. (D-District 10) and referred to the Senate Committee on Education.
Senate Bill 1081 would, if enacted, require the state commissioner of education to "establish a model environmental curriculum on climate change to be taught in all public elementary and secondary schools." The curriculum would be included in the standards of instruction for not only science but also history, social studies, health, and mathematics. The bill was introduced by Andrew Gounardes (D-District 22) and referred to the Senate Committee on Education.
With Assembly Bill 617 and Senate Bill 596, on which NCSE previously reported, there are now four active bills seeking to support climate change education in New York.
