(a) The department shall, no later than March 1, 2022, in collaboration with, and subject to the approval of, the executive director of the state board, use the funding appropriated pursuant to Section 156 of Chapter 44 of the Statutes of 2021 to enter into a contract with a county office of education or a consortium of county offices of education for the purposes of developing a model curriculum related to the Vietnamese American refugee experience by September 1, 2024. The model curriculum shall be housed on the platform developed and maintained by the California History-Social Science Project. The designated county office of education or consortium of county offices of education shall work with the California History-Social Science Project and Teaching California to ensure that the curriculum is accessible and compatible with the platform.

(b) The county office of education or consortium of county offices of education shall ensure the inclusion of authentic voices and perspectives in the development of the model curriculum and shall provide multiple opportunities for authentic stakeholder engagement across the state, which shall include, but not be limited to, town halls or other input sessions and surveys. The county office of education or consortium of county offices of education shall consult with, but is not limited to consulting with, Vietnamese American cultural centers and community groups located in California, survivors, rescuers, and liberators of the Vietnam War, Vietnamese American refugees, representatives of local educational agencies, members of the commission, and teachers, including teachers who have relevant experience or educational backgrounds in the study and teaching of Vietnamese American history.

(c) (1) The model curriculum shall include the incorporation of writings and other media that represent all perspectives of the Vietnamese refugee experience, including oral testimony by survivors, rescuers, and liberators of the Vietnam War, including Vietnamese American refugees, Vietnamese boat people, and members of the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces, to ensure quality standards and materials for this area of study.

(2) For purposes of this subdivision, “oral testimony” means the firsthand accounts of significant historical events presented in a format that includes, but is not limited to, in-person testimony, video, or a multimedia option, such as a DVD or an online video.

(d) The model curriculum shall be open source and accessible to educators across the state and shall include curriculum and online instructional modules appropriate for use with pupils in kindergarten and any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive.

(e) The model curriculum shall be written as a guide to allow school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education to adapt their related courses to best meet the educational needs of their communities. The model curriculum developed for use in high schools shall include examples of courses offered by local educational agencies that have been approved as meeting the A-G admissions requirements of the University of California and the California State University, including, to the extent possible, course outlines for those courses.

(f) The county office of education or consortium of county offices of education may subcontract with a nonprofit organization or institution of higher education in the development of the model curriculum pursuant to this section.

(g) The county office of education or consortium of county offices of education shall submit a report annually, until the completion of the model curriculum, on its progress in the development of the model curriculum, to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature and to the state board.

(h) Beginning in the school year following the completion of the model curriculum pursuant to subdivision (a), each school district, charter school, or county office of education maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, that does not otherwise offer standards-based curriculum relative to the Vietnamese American refugee experience, Vietnamese boat people, and the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces, is encouraged to offer to pupils a course of study relative to the Vietnamese American refugee experience. A school district, charter school, or county office of education that serves pupils in any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, that elects to offer a course of study in the Vietnamese American refugee experience pursuant to this subdivision, shall offer the course as an elective in the social sciences or world history and shall make the course available in at least one year during a pupil’s enrollment in grades 7 to 12, inclusive.

(i) It is the intent of the Legislature that local educational agencies that maintain high schools submit course outlines for studies relative to the Vietnamese American refugee experience for approval as A-G courses.

(j) For purposes of this section, “model curriculum” means lesson plans, primary source documents, planning resources, teaching strategies, and professional development activities to assist teachers in teaching about the Vietnamese American refugee experience, the Fall of Saigon in 1975, discussion of the Vietnamese boat people and members of the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces, the reasons behind the exodus, the hardships faced by the Vietnamese people attempting to flee who were apprehended by the communist government, and the conditions that led to the resettlement of Vietnamese people in the United States and covers the period from the Vietnam War and the Fall of Saigon in 1975 to the year 2000, which captures the experience of postwar Vietnamese immigrants in the United States.

(Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 711, Sec. 1. (SB 369) Effective January 1, 2024.)