HB362:

School boards, local; instruction on climate change.

Bill Summary:

Department of Education; local school boards; instruction on climate change. Requires the Department of Education, in collaboration with environmental groups and other relevant state agencies such as the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Health and to assist local school boards in the implementation of programs of instruction that comply with the requirements relating to the Standards of Learning, specifically relating to citizenship and environmental issues and geography necessary for responsible participation in American society and the international community, to develop, no later than July 1, 2023, an interdisciplinary program of instruction on the causes of and potential solutions for climate change. The bill requires each local school board to incorporate, during the 2024%962025 school year, such program of instruction into curricula and instruction in the local school division in each core academic subject area at the grade levels that it deems most appropriate. The bill requires the Department of Education to implement and oversee a one-year pilot program to provide training and technical assistance to a diverse cross section of local school boards to implement such program of instruction in the local school division during the intervening 2023–2024 school year between the development and full local implementation of such program of instruction.