State Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, has prefiled bipartisan legislation to mandate public K-12 schools teach a curriculum on the Jewish Holocaust developed by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) in partnership with Seattle’s Holocaust Center for Humanity.
The bill would also direct OSPI to annually update best practices and guidelines for the curriculum.
In a Monday morning news release, Braun and Sen. Jesse Salomon, D-Shoreline, said Senate Bill 5851 is a response to the “pro-Hamas demonstrations and rise in antisemitism seen across the nation” following an attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
According to a survey conducted by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany in all 50 states, 63% of millennial and gen Z generations did not know that six million Jews died in the Holocaust while 36% thought the death toll was less than two million.
In the survey, 11% of respondents thought the Jews were to blame.
Of those surveyed, 80% said more education about the holocaust is needed.
“The shocking lack of awareness about the worst incident of mass genocide the world has ever seen is unacceptable and can be addressed through education in Washington’s public schools,” Braun said in a statement. “The truth of the Holocaust is basic historical information every American should know. It’s also an invaluable learning opportunity to help our students and future leaders better understand and work to prevent current and future genocidal campaigns around the world.”
The bill was referred to the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee. The expansion of “resources and professional learning opportunities for educators to teach holocaust studies” is included on the Senate Republicans 2024 legislative agenda.
In an interview with The Chronicle Editorial Board on Thursday, Braun said educators should teach about the history and factors that led to the holocaust and “relate it to other, similar situations that are happening in North Africa, happening in China, happening in different parts of the world today.”
“From a historical perspective, you want children to know about it,” Braun said. “But it’s also an important learning opportunity for what’s going on around the world today and really not getting the attention it deserves.”
If passed, the bill would designate April as International Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month and require public schools to conduct and promote “age-appropriate” educational activities that provide instruction, awareness and understanding of the Holocaust during the month.
The bill would also “strongly encourage” public schools to offer at least one “Holocaust and genocide education stand-alone elective” that is available to students at least once between grades 6 and 12.
Beginning in the 2027-2028 school year, the bill would require secondary schools to provide instruction on the “Holocaust and other examples of genocide and crimes against humanity” when the topic aligns with social studies learning standards.
“We are currently experiencing political attacks on basic democratic norms and principles within our own nation from both ends of the political spectrum,” Salomon said in a statement.
“As someone whose family was deeply and traumatically impacted by the Holocaust, I welcome this bipartisan opportunity to use the lessons of the past to reestablish norms based on our commonalities and an understanding of the horrors that could arise should we fail this mission. Unless we teach the lessons from the Holocaust, which provide a stark illustration of what could happen, we may fail to prevent its reoccurrence in some form or fashion.”
