HB1060

House Bill 1060 mandates that the Arkansas Department of Education review and update social studies curriculum standards for grades seven through twelve by the 2026-2027 school year. The legislation requires that curricula provide age-appropriate instruction comparing the United States' constitutional republic to communist and autocratic government systems. It outlines specific topics for these standards, including the history of mass murder and economic failures associated with such systems, and the constitutional limitations of the U.S. government. The bill explicitly identifies several nations and historical examples to be used in these lessons, such as the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea. Furthermore, the bill provides a definition of 'communism and autocratic government' as systems where power is concentrated in a single person or party without popular control or legal constraints. The primary goal is to emphasize the resiliency of the U.S. system compared to alternative forms of governance.