FL H0417

District school boards must designate one month per school year to celebrate the Founding Fathers and principles in founding documents, which may coordinate with Celebrate Freedom Week.

During the designated month, instruction must focus on leading founding figures, their moral and civic virtues, founding documents (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers), and principles including individual freedom, representative democracy, free market economy, and natural law.

The instruction emphasizes the historical and philosophical importance of the Declaration of Independence's statement that people are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Schools may integrate the required instruction into existing curriculum through supplementing lesson plans, holding assemblies, or providing school-related activities.

The act takes effect July 1, 2011.