Pupil instruction: animal dissection.

Existing law authorizes a pupil with a moral objection to dissecting or otherwise harming or destroying an animal to refrain from participation in an educational project that involves the harmful or destructive use of animals. Existing law authorizes a pupil who chooses to refrain, with the approval of the teacher, to complete an alternative education project in order to obtain the knowledge, information, or experience required by the course of study in question. This bill would prohibit a pupil in any California private or public school in kindergarten and grades 1 through 12, from performing dissection. The bill would define dissection as the viewing of the, or act of, dismembering or otherwise destructive use of an invertebrate or vertebrate animal, as specified, in the study of biological sciences, excluding fixed histological samples of any species. The bill would also add items that may be included as an alternative education project for the purpose of demonstrating knowledge if a pupil has a moral objection to participating in an education project involving the harmful or destructive use of animals.