by Jan Goehring
Two states recently passed legislation designed to strengthen democracy education, although their approaches are very different.
In West Virginia, the house passed a resolution to encourage the creation of a Civics Literacy Council. The council will assess the status of civic education in West Virginia, come up with an inventory of civic education and service learning opportunities for students, promote a network of civic education professionals and make recommendations to improve civic education. The resolution lists myriad organizations that may be included in the council. Co-chairs will be the State Superintendent of Schools and the Secretary of Education and Arts. Arizona, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and Virginia also have created civics commissions.
New Mexico will now appropriate $30,000 from the general fund for statewide social studies and civics professional development. The funds are to be expended through the state department of education.
Both of these bills were introduced by legislators who had attended a Congressional Conference on Civic Education. The conference brings together high-level policymakers from each state to learn about civic education and share ideas on how to restore the civic mission of schools.
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