ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Fifty-seventh Legislature

First Regular Session

House: ED DP 6-5-0-1

☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal Note

HB 2700: academic standards; social studies; geography

Sponsor: Representative Martinez, LD 16

Caucus & COW

Overview

Requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to include instruction on the Gulf of America when next updating the high school social studies academic standards.

History

The State Board of Education (SBE) must prescribe competency requirements for the graduation of students from high school that incorporate the academic standards in at least the areas of reading, writing, math, science and social studies. The SBE-prescribed high school social studies academic standards must include personal finance, American civics education and a comparative discussion of political ideologies that conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy (A.R.S. § 15-701.01).

The social studies academic standards are organized under four core disciplines: civics, economics, geography and history. The geography standards promote the use of multiple geographic tools and emphasize geographic reasoning to understand local, national, regional and global issues (Arizona History and Social Science Standards).

To graduate from high school, students must complete three social studies credits: 1) one credit of American history, including Arizona history; 2) one credit of world history/geography, including instruction on the Holocaust and other genocides; 3) one-half credit of American government, including civics and Arizona government; and 4) one-half credit of economics (A.A.C. R7-2-302).

On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14172, which renames the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The U.S. Secretary of the Interior, within 30 days, must take all appropriate actions to rename the area formerly designated as the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America (Exec. Order No. 14172, 2025).

Provisions

1.   Specifies SBE must include geography in the high school social studies academic standards. (Sec. 1)

2.   Includes, in the high school geography academic standards, instruction on the Gulf of America. (Sec. 1)

3.   Declares SBE is not required to include instruction on the Gulf of America in the academic standards until SBE next updates the social studies academic standards. (Sec. 2)

 

 

 

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                        HB 2700

Initials CH/ML          Page 0 Caucus & COW

 

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