Senate Bill 2538

AN ACT TO PREVENT STATE FUNDING FROM BEING USED BY ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS TO TEACH THE 1619 PROJECT CURRICULUM; TO PROVIDE THAT ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS THAT TEACH THE 1619 PROJECT CURRICULUM SHALL RECEIVE REDUCED MISSISSIPPI ADEQUATE EDUCATION PROGRAM FUNDS BY TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Saving American History in Mississippi Schools Act of 2020."

SECTION 2. The Legislature finds the following:

(a) The true date of America's founding is July 4, 1775, the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

(b) The self-evident truths set forth by that Declaration are the fundamental principles upon which America was founded.

(c) An activist movement is now gaining momentum to deny or obfuscate this history by claiming that America was not founded on the ideals of the Declaration but rather on slavery and oppression. This distortion of American history is being taught to children in public school classrooms via the New York Times' "1619 Project".

(d) The 1619 Project is racially divisive and revisionist account of history that threatens the integrity of the Union by denying the true principles on which it was founded.

(e) The State of Mississippi has a strong interest in promoting an accurate account of the Nation's history through public schools and forming young people into knowledgeable and patriotic citizens.

SECTION 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no state funds shall be used by any elementary school or secondary school to teach the 1619 Project Initiative of the New York Times.

SECTION 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an elementary school or secondary school that teaches the 1619 Project initiative of the New York Times in such school shall not receive any funding for professional development.

SECTION 5. In the case of an elementary school or secondary school that receives state funding and teaches the 1619 Project initiative of the New York Times, the State Department of Education shall determine the cost associated with teaching the 1619 Project, including in planning time and teaching time.

SECTION 6. The State Department of Education shall reduce funds provided to an elementary or secondary school in an amount equal to the cost amount determined under Section 5 of this act SECTION 7. If an elementary school or secondary school teaches the 1619 Project, the State Department of Education shall reduce the school's allotment of funds from the Mississippi Adequate Education Program by twenty-five percent (25%) for each year that the school teaches the 1619 Project.

SECTION 8. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2021.