City Council support of S. 2306, “An Act to promote and enhance civic engagement.”

City of Cambridge O-1 ORIGINAL ORDER IN CITY COUNCIL March 19, 2018 VICE MAYOR DEVEREUX MAYOR MCGOVERN COUNCILLOR SIDDIQUI COUNCILLOR MALLON WHEREAS: The Massachusetts State Legislature is currently considering S. 2306, “An Act to promote and enhance civic engagement”; and WHEREAS: This bill was recently reported favorably from the Committee on Education, and currently sits before the Committee on Senate Ways and Means; and WHEREAS: This bill would ensure that in all public schools, “American history and civics education shall be taught as required subjects for the purpose of promoting civic service and a greater knowledge thereof, and of preparing students, morally and intellectually, for the duties of citizenship…”; and WHEREAS: The bill focuses on student education of American history, the Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, the Constitution of the Commonwealth and local history and government; and WHEREAS: The bill would also include in curriculum frameworks discussions of the function and composition of branches of local, state, and federal government, the electoral process, the responsibilities of residents in a democracy, media literacy skills, the critical role of diversity in the democratic process, and knowledge about ways in which civic participation has been restricted throughout history; and WHEREAS: Massachusetts is one of only eight states that does not require civics education; and WHEREAS: Civic education, history, and general awareness is more critical now than ever, as involvement in all levels of government from all people must be encouraged and enhanced; now therefore be it ORDERED: That the City Council go on record supporting S. 2306, “An Act to promote and enhance civic engagement”; and be it further ORDERED: That the City Clerk be and hereby is requested to forward a suitably engrossed copy of this order to the Cambridge State Delegation and to the Cambridge School Committee on behalf of the entire City Council.