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Education Initiative Enters Circulation

Education. Repeals Non-Discrimination Requirements
For School Instruction. Narrows Requirement that Students
Study Role and Contributions of Various Groups. Initiative Statute.

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Debra Bowen today announced that the proponents of a new initiative may begin collecting petition signatures for their measure.

The Attorney General prepares the legal title and summary that is required to appear on initiative petitions. When the official language is complete, the Attorney General forwards it to the proponents and to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponents and to county elections officials, and the initiative may be circulated for signatures. The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the measure is as follows:

EDUCATION. REPEALS NON-DISCRIMINATION REQUIREMENTS FOR SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. NARROWS REQUIREMENT THAT STUDENTS STUDY ROLE AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF VARIOUS GROUPS. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Repeals requirement that schools prohibit instructional materials that discriminate against persons based on their gender, religion, sexual orientation, disabilities, or other characteristics. Repeals requirements that school instructional materials recognize societal contributions of various groups to the economic, political, and social development of California and the United States. Prohibits exclusion of a historical figure from instructional materials solely on the basis that the historical figure is a member in, or possesses a characteristic associated with, a specified protected group. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: This measure would not impose additional costs on school districts. (11-0093)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1573 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0093.

The proponents for this measure, Jack Hibbs, Rochelle L. Lara, John M. Song, Galina Bondar and Thomas Mui, must collect signatures of 504,760 registered voters – the number equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the 2010 gubernatorial election – in order to qualify it for the ballot. The proponents have 150 days to circulate petitions for this measure, meaning the signatures must be collected by July 16, 2012.

The initiative proponents can be reached at (916) 591-8099.

To sign up for regular ballot measure updates via email, RSS feed, or Twitter, go to www.sos.ca.gov/multimedia.

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