HB 5215 Summary

• Requires climate change instruction in Connecticut public school science curriculum consistent with Next Generation Science Standards, effective July 1, 2020.

• Makes climate change education one of 11 suggested topics the State Board of Education shall encourage local and regional boards to include, along with topics like Holocaust education, African-American history, and labor history.

• Designates the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection as an available resource to assist local and regional boards of education in developing climate change curriculum.

• Applies the same requirements to a subsequent version effective July 1, 2021, which also adds African-American and black studies and Puerto Rican and Latino studies as required instructional subjects.