O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1021 — Display of historically signiﬁcant documents

(a) To increase student understanding of, and familiarity with, American historical documents, public schools may display historically important excerpts from, or copies of, those documents in school classrooms and common areas as appropriate. Local boards of education and charter schools are strongly encouraged to allow and may encourage any public school teacher or administrator to read or post in a public school building, classroom, or event excerpts or portions of writings, documents, records, or images that reﬂect the history of the United States, including, but not limited to: (1) The Preamble to the Georgia Constitution; (2) The Declaration of Independence; (3) The United States Constitution, with emphasis on the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments; (4) The Bill of Rights; (5) The Mayﬂower Compact; 833 20-2-1022 (6) The national motto; (7) The Pledge of Allegiance to the United States ﬂag; (7.1) The Pledge of Allegiance to the Georgia ﬂag; (8) The National Anthem; (9) The writings, speeches, documents, and proclamations of the Founding Fathers and Presidents of the United States; (9.1) The Emancipation Proclamation; (9.2) The Gettysburg Address; (10) Decisions of the United States Supreme Court; and (11) Acts of the Congress of the United States, including the published text of the Congressional Record. (b) As historical documents, there shall be no content based censorship of American history and heritage documents referred to in this Code section due to their religious or cultural nature. History. Code 1981, § 20-2-1021, enacted by Ga. L. 2015, p. 1376, § 38A/HB 502. 20-2-1022. Online instructional resources relating to American history for educators. To increase student understanding of, and familiarity with, American historical documents and to provide curriculum support to classroom teachers of United States history, American government and civics, economics, and social studies, the Department of Education is strongly encouraged to create an online instructional resource page or pages for teachers, which may include, but is not limited to, links to websites, foundational documents, and lesson plan ideas. In order to create shared digital resources available to all students in this state, such online resources may be integrated with the Teacher Resource Link of the Statewide Longitudinal Data System. At a minimum, such resource page or pages may include the items in paragraphs (1) through (11) of subsection (a) of Code Section 20-2-1021 and may focus on the foundational principles of limited constitutional government, federalism, religious liberty, freedom of speech, the right to private property, free enterprise, and the rule of law. There shall be no content based censorship of American history, writings of the Founding Fathers, or heritage documents referred to in this Code section due to their religious or cultural nature. It is strongly encouraged that the online teacher resource page be completed and made easily available to teachers no later than July 31, 2016, and support the requirements speciﬁed in Code Section 20-2-1020. 834 20-2-1022 ELEMENTARY & SECONDARY EDUC. 20-2-1050 History. Code 1981, § 20-2-1022, enacted by Ga. L. 2015, p. 1376, § 38A/HB 502. ARTICLE 20 EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP ACT OF 1990 20-2-1030 through 20-3-1033. [Reserved] History. Ga. L. 1990, p. 1132, § 1; repealed by Ga. L. 2012, p. 358, § 38/HB 706, effective July 1, 2012. Editor’s notes. Ga. L. 2012, p. 358, § 38/HB 706 repealed and reserved this article, effective July 1, 2012. ARTICLE 21 BRIEF PERIOD OF QUIET REFLECTION 20-2-1050. Brief period of quiet reﬂection authorized; nature of period. (a) In each public school classroom, the teacher in charge shall, at the opening of school upon every school day, conduct a brief period of quiet reﬂection for not more than 60 seconds with the participation of all the pupils therein assembled. (b) The moment of quiet reﬂection authorized by subsection (a) of this Code section is not intended to be and shall not be conducted as a religious service or exercise but shall be considered as an opportunity for a moment of silent reﬂection on the anticipated activities of the day. (c) The provisions of subsections (a) and (b) of this Code section shall not prevent student initiated voluntary school prayers at schools or school related events which are nonsectarian and nonproselytizing in nature. History. Ga. L. 1969, p. 488, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 256, §§ 2, 3.