Bill > HM32

This Memorial requests that the Legislative Education Study Committee, working with the Public Education Department, the Department of Finance and Administration, and the National Education Association-New Mexico, form a task force to create a detailed plan for improving how multicultural historical events are taught in schools. This task force, which will include educators, is specifically asked to develop standards for teaching about human rights issues, with a focus on genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust, and to suggest how these standards can be integrated into existing middle and high school curricula. The plan should also include the creation of instructional materials designed to help students understand mass violence, respect diversity, recognize the importance of human rights, reflect on civic responsibility, analyze human behavior, understand prejudice and discrimination, examine New Mexico's history of discrimination, and explore justice mechanisms for moving forward after genocide. The Memorial also encourages schools to use available resources and proposes a pilot program in up to ten schools to test the effectiveness of the task force's recommendations, with the Legislative Education Study Committee to report its findings and pilot program options by December 31, 2022.