HB1736

House Bill 1736 mandates that beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, all public schools in Arkansas must include instruction on the 'perils of communism and autocratic governments' for students in grades 7-12. The curriculum is required to cover the record of mass murder and oppression under these systems, the failure of associated economic structures, and the influence of specific nations including Russia, China, North Korea, and Argentina. The State Board of Education is tasked with developing these materials in consultation with subject matter experts. The bill defines these governments as systems where absolute power is concentrated in one individual without external legal or popular constraints, and which have resulted in the deaths of approximately 100 million citizens.