For my first blog I chose a bill that is in House First Readers. HB 882 proposes that along with teaching teenagers about rape prevention and personal safety, school will teach the “Love is Not Abuse” curriculum. Love is not abuse is a domestic violence education curriculum created in 2004 and supported by Liz Claiborne (Georgia General Assembly).The bill is an amendment to Article 6 of Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated that relates to the “Quality Basic Education Act”. Within the text of the bill it is referenced that as of 2009 a number of Georgia school currently offer the Love is Not Abuse Curriculum. I would guess that the year of 2009 was a significant year for domestic violence education as that was the year of the Rihanna/Chris Brown incident. This shows how a story garnered national attention and produced the proper political stream to create potential policy window (Karger via mpalmiter powerpoint presentation). The bill was introduced on 01/28/2014 and was read by the House on 01/31/2014. It has no votes as of right now.
SWP Jerram Blog
Come Learn With Me!
Megan – What is the thinking about this curriculum? For instance, did you know that Love is Not Abuse has joined Break the Cycle? They have also done some research, although I did not take the time here to look into it. My point in this is that the source of the policy stream solution is important and its veracity.
Careful of your links. The one you set in is to the D2L site and not to the Georgia general assembly.
I did a little looking about this because I was curious as to the groups supporting and what their ability is to open that window of opportunity. You might find all of these interesting. While the cases of domestic violence might have created some public awareness, there is something else driving the problem definition when it comes to teens. I am not sure who would be opposed except folks who think that this is a family education issue not the pbulic schools, but I didn’t take the time to look further.
National Council of State Legislatures
Futures without violence
National Women’s Law Center
Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence