Two weeks ago House Bill 1380, written by Republican Representative Dan Fisher, was passed in committee.

The bill proposes for the State Board of Education to adopt a particular United States History program and assessment. US History courses would be required to teach certain documents in class and the awards of grants or expenditures of money for any Advanced Placement United States History courses would be prohibited until certain conditions were met.

If the Bill is passed, then it would be enacted July 1, 2015 and the cost would be around $3,000,000 for the state to fund.

To compare and contrast the current curriculum and the proposed curriculum see the attached chart.

AP United States History teacher Amanda Johnson is not supportive of the new bill.

“After reading it, I did not like it because they proposed a set of required documents and vague explanations of how to teach them. I think that they are misinformed about the AP program because it is primarily developing critical thinking skills,” Johnson said.

The decision was passed 11-4 by the Common Education Committee. The 11 yeas were voted by Republicans and the four nays were voted by Democrats.

AP Government Joshua Putnam has some ideas as to why HB 1380 was passed by committee.

“It’s misguided. My opinion is that this bill is an attempt to destabilize public education so that private schools can get public funding,” he said.

Representative Donnie Condit, who has over 30 years of public education experience, was one of the few members of the committee that were not in favor of the bill.

“I don’t think our job is to set the curriculum in the legislature. We don’t have the time or the expertise,” Representative Condit said. “And there is not enough time to teach everything in the bill that Representative Fisher had proposed.”

Representative Condit believes that students, parents and community members have every right in the world to challenge education. The steps that Condit proposed for change that people could follow included:

1. Talking with the teacher
2. Talking with the principal or administrator
3. Talking with the superintendent advisor
4. Talking with the superintendent
5. Ask to be on the school board

“The bill should have started in the State Department of Education in the beginning,” Condit said.

The overall reaction to the bill from the community was negative. Norman Public Schools sent out a poll to the parents of their students to ask four questions regarding the bill:

1. Should the Legislature make any AP (Advanced Placement) courses illegal?
2. Do you understand that AP courses are a choice/elective at the high school level that often result in college credit but are not required of any student?
3. How would you feel if the Legislature proceeds in making AP courses illegal?
4. Is it appropriate for the Legislature to have oversight of the courses local districts offer?

The results to these questions were clear. Out of the 6627 people that took the poll, 96 percent of them agreed that the legislature should not make any AP courses illegal. 99 percent of the people said that they knew what AP courses were and that it is not a requirement for students. 95 percent of the people indicated that they would be “angry or disappointed” if the legislature proceeds to make AP classes illegal. And for the last question, 77 percent believed that the legislature should not have any oversight of the courses that the local districts offer.

Johnson is concerned with what will happen if AP US History is banned.

“It would be very bad for Oklahomans if we don’t have the US History option because it does encourage critical thinking. I think that it can be dangerous when local politicians start getting very specific viewpoints that they want taught in a history class when the goal of APUSH is to teach varying viewpoints,” Johnson said.

Now the bill has to pass the House of Representatives and the Senate in order for it to become active in Oklahoma. However, there are rumors that Representative Fisher is going to gut the bill.

Brad Clark, legal counsel for Oklahoma Public Schools Resource Center, listened in on the debate in committee on HB 1380.

“There is no known catalyst for this situation,” Clark said. “It could be influenced by other states or it could be what Representative Fisher really believes in.”

The major question that many schools are asking is what will happen to all Advanced Placement classes in the future.

“It’s a slippery slope and there is no good defense to where it will stop,” Clark said.

AP European History teacher Kyle Malzahn has been teaching history courses for over 20 years and does not like the outlook on what the bill could do for the future of Advanced Placement courses.

“It would lead to the furtherance of the degradation of all education. Basically it’s just dumbing down all education and it could potentially just get rid of all AP courses,” Malzahn said.

Now the public has to wait and see what will happen if the bill is passed or tossed out.