The Arizona House of Representatives Education Committee voted on Feb. 18 to advance HB2700 which would require the state to change its high school Geography standards to “follow Trump’s lead” and promote patriotism.
The new bill, sponsored by Rep. Teresa Martinez, would require the Arizona State Board of Education to modify its existing standards to include referencing the previously named “Gulf of Mexico” as the Gulf of America. It’s unclear at this time how legislation would be enforced.
“It’s important to start teaching pro-America to our children,” Rep. Martinez said at the committee hearing. “When we start talking about the greatness of America, we start talking and promoting patriotism. And I think that in schools, we must do a better job at promoting patriotism.”
However, according to Sean Ross, the Executive Director of the Arizona State Board of Education, the legislation would most likely not go into effect until 2027 when the Board typically reviews its previous 2020 standards.
The curriculum is typically updated on a seven year cycle, and there is currently no date set to review and update the curriculum standards.
Meanwhile, groups such as Save Our Schools Arizona and the Arizona Education Association have signaled they are against HB2700.
The bill itself is ambiguous, and does not provide context to guide schools how to meet the legislation’s requirements. Local school districts decide textbooks and other classroom resources to comply with the standards set by the state’s board of education.
At the hearing, Rep. David Marshall asked Martinez why the legislation was necessary since President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14172 renamed the land mass last month. However, he later voted yes to pass the legislation despite questioning its purpose which gave the bill enough votes to pass its committee hearing 6-5.
Martinez said the bill would be used to “make sure” universities, colleges and other schools comply with federal law to use the term “Gulf of America”, and expressed doubt that teachers would follow the executive order if the state legislation was not passed.
However, it is also unclear how this legislation would be enforced, how or if schools could be penalized for noncompliance or how school districts would procure updated resources like textbooks and maps as they still face tight budgets.
Edited by Shi Bradley
