STATE BY STATE: HOLOCAUST EDUCATION LEGISLATION

Currently in the United States, 12 states mandate Holocaust education, 5 have permissive statutes (legislation that is not a requirement), 14 support a Holocaust education commission or taskforce, 4 have legislation pending, and 22 have no legislation regarding Holocaust education (note: some states may fall into multiple categories).

Tap the button below to review state legislation. Visit this page on desktop to explore an interactive map.

For questions, and for more information on our offerings and/or on Holocaust education in your state, please contact us at info@echoesandreflections.org.


The map below tracks state legislation (passed and pending) regarding Holocaust and genocide education, as well as taskforces/commissions established by such law. Any state or school district may include Holocaust studies in their curriculum without state policy, and many do so with great rigor and commitment; this does not reflect those individual curricular decisions.

Currently in the United States, 29 states mandate Holocaust education, 6 have permissive statutes (legislation that is not a requirement), 17 support a Holocaust education commission or task force, 2 have legislation pending, and 9 have no legislation regarding Holocaust education (note: some states may fall into multiple categories).

To filter by legislative status, select one of these categories using the tool below.

STATE BY STATE: HOLOCAUST EDUCATION LEGISLATION
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ALABAMA
Legislative Language: “we welcome the Alabama State Department of Education’s stated commitment to ensuring Alabama students have access to quality Holocaust education.”
Commission/Taskforce: Alabama Holocaust Commission

ALASKA
Legislation: NA
Legislative Language: NA
Commission/Taskforce: NA

ARIZONA
Legislative Language: “The State Board of Education shall include a requirement that students be taught about the Holocaust and other genocides…”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

ARKANSAS
Legislative Language: “Beginning in the 2021-2022 school year, Holocaust education shall be taught in all public schools…”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

CALIFORNIA
Legislative Language: “Grades 7-12, inclusive, shall offer courses in… human rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust…” (See 51220, Section 3b)  “Establishment of the California Teachers Collaborative for Holocaust and Genocide Education would enable training for teachers in school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, on an ongoing basis, on how to effectively provide Holocaust and genocide education using the state’s history-social science content standards-based curricula and best practices, thereby setting a national standard for Holocaust and genocide education that other states can follow.” (See SB-1277, Section 1f)

COLORADO
Legislative Language: “For school years beginning on or after July 1, 2022, each school district board of education and charter school shall incorporate the standards on holocaust and genocide studies developed by the state board…into an existing course that is currently a condition of high school graduation.”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

CONNECTICUT
Legislative Language: “In the public schools the program of instruction offered shall
include…Holocaust and genocide education and awareness in
accordance with the provisions of section 2 of this act…”

DELAWARE
Legislative Language: “…the State of Delaware encourages teachers to include instruction on the Holocaust and genocide in their classrooms.”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

FLORIDA
Legislative Language: “Members of the instructional staff of the public schools…shall teach efficiently and faithfully…the history of the Holocaust (1933 – 1945)…”

GEORGIA
Legislation: NA
Legislative Language: NA

HAWAII
Legislation: NA
Legislative Language: NA
Commission/Taskforce: NA

IDAHO
Legislation: Permissive
Legislative Language: “States findings of the Legislature and encourages the Idaho State Department of Education to review and consider the adoption of age-appropriate Holocaust education in school districts and public charter schools.”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

ILLINOIS
Legislative Language: “Holocaust and Genocide Study. Every public elementary school and high school shall include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of the Nazi atrocities of 1933 to 1945”

INDIANA
Legislation: Required as of 2007
Legislative Language: “Each high school US History course must include a study of:
…the holocaust in each high school US history course.” As of 2019, middle school was also included. 
Commission/Taskforce: NA

IOWA
Legislation: Required as of 2024
Legislative Language: “Revised social studies standards shall includeminstruction related to all of the following topics in grademone through grade twelve, in such a manner that is both relevant and appropriate for the age of the student receiving… instruction related to the Holocaust.”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

KANSAS
Legislation: NA
Legislative Language: NA
Commission/Taskforce: NA

KENTUCKY
Legislation: Required
Legislative Language: “to require every public middle and high school to provide instruction on the Holocaust and other acts of genocide; shall be known as the Ann Klein and Fred Gross Holocaust Education Act.” (see section 1a, 3)
Commission/Taskforce: NA

LOUISIANA
Legislation: Pending as of 2022
Legislative Language: “require public school governing authorities to provide instruction relative to World War II and the Holocaust to each student in grades nine through twelve.”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

MAINE
Legislative Language: “The history of genocide, including the Holocaust, must be included in the review of content standards…”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

MARYLAND
Legislation: NA
Legislative Language: NA
Commission/Taskforce: NA

MASSACHUSETTS
Legislation: Required as of 2022
Legislative Language: ‘There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Genocide Education Trust Fund for the purpose of educating middle and high school students on the history of genocide.”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

MICHIGAN
Legislative Language: “To mandate that public schools must provide high school students at least six hours of instruction about genocides, including the Holocaust. Also, to create a new government commission to research and make recommendations on how to teach this better.”

MINNESOTA
Legislative Language: “A school district must, at a minimum, offer as part of its social studies curriculum for middle and high school education on the Holocaust, genocide of Indigenous Peoples, and other genocides. “
Commission/Taskforce: NA

MISSISSIPPI
Legislation: NA
Legislative Language: NA
Commission/Taskforce: Holocaust Commission

MISSOURI
Legislative Language: “The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education shall develop a curriculum framework of instruction for studying the Holocaust. Such curriculum framework shall be made available to up to 25 school districts or schools within a district as a pilot program in consultation with the Holocaust Education and Awareness Commission beginning in the 2023-2024 school year.”

MONTANA
Legislation: NA
Legislative Language: NA
Commission/Taskforce: NA

NEBRASKA
Legislative Language: “Require the State Board of Education to adopt standards for education on the Holocaust and other acts of genocide.”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

NEVADA
Legislative Language: “The State Board shall create a subcommittee to review and make recommendations on the manner in which to provide age-appropriate and historically accurate instruction about the Holocaust and other genocides…”

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Legislative Language: “the general court finds that it is necessary…to teach students how discriminatory practices have escalated and evolved into genocides such as the Holocaust.”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

NEW JERSEY
Legislative Language: “Every board of education shall include instruction on the Holocaust and genocides in an appropriate place in the curriculum of all elementary and secondary school pupils.”

NEW MEXICO
Legislation: NA
Legislative Language: NA
Commission/Taskforce: NA

NEW YORK
Legislative Language: “the eighth and higher grades of the public schools shall attend upon such courses…the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery (including the freedom trail and underground railroad), the Holocaust…” Amendment in 2022 authorizes the commissioner of education to conduct a survey regarding instruction on the Holocaust within the state.
Commission/Taskforce: NA

NORTH CAROLINA
Legislation: Required as of 2022
Legislative Language: “…shall integrate into English, social studies courses, and other courses as appropriate education on the Holocaust and genocide and develop a curriculum for a Holocaust Studies elective that may be offered in middle schools and high schools…”
Commission/Taskforce: NC Council on the Holocaust

NORTH DAKOTA
Legislation: NA
Legislative Language: NA
Commission/Taskforce: NA

OHIO
Legislation: NA
Legislative Language: NA

OKLAHOMA
Legislative Language: “Beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, Holocaust education
shall be taught in all public schools…”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

OREGON
Legislative Language: “Requires school districts to provide instruction about Holocaust and genocide beginning with 2020-2021 school year…State Board of Education to develop academic content standards for Holocaust and genocide studies.”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

PENNSYLVANIA
Legislative Language: “guidelines shall encourage the inclusion of…The breadth of the history of the Holocaust…The State Board of Education shall: Conduct a study regarding the manner in which instruction in the Holocaust, genocide and human rights violations is offered…”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

RHODE ISLAND
Legislation: Required as of 2016
Legislative Language: “the board of education in the state shall include instruction on the subjects of holocaust and genocide studies where appropriate in the curriculum, for all middle and high school students…”

SOUTH CAROLINA
Legislation: NA
Legislative Language: NA

SOUTH DAKOTA
Legislation: NA
Legislative Language: NA
Commission/Taskforce: NA

TENNESSEE
Legislative Language: “All 5th grade students, students who study U.S. history, and students who study world history and geography across the state of Tennessee are required to study the Holocaust and genocide as part of the mandated social studies curriculum.”
Commission/Taskforce: TN Holocaust Commission

TEXAS
Legislative Language: “the governor shall designate a week to be known as Holocaust Remembrance Week in public schools.”

UTAH
Legislative Language: “This resolution…encourages the State Board of Education and local education agencies to provide Holocaust and genocide education.”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

VERMONT
Legislation: Pending as of 2023
Legislative Language: “This bill proposes to require Vermont public schools to include Holocaust education in supervisory union-wide curricula for grades six through 12 each year, beginning in the 2024–2025 school year.”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

VIRGINIA
Legislative Language: “The Superintendent of Public Instruction is required to distribute a teacher’s manual to all school divisions that emphasizes the causes and ramifications of the Holocaust and genocide.”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

WASHINGTON
Legislative Language: “Every public middle school, junior high school, and high school is strongly encouraged to include in its curriculum instruction on the events of the period in modern world history known as the Holocaust…”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

WEST VIRGINIA
Legislative Language: ‘All public schools located within this state shall give age-appropriate instruction on the Holocaust, the systematic, planned annihilation on European Jews and other groups by Nazi Germany…”
Commission/Taskforce: Commission on Holocaust Education

WISCONSIN
Legislative Language: “This bill requires the state superintendent of public instruction to incorporate
the Holocaust and other genocides into the model academic standards for social
studies and to develop model curricula and instructional materials on the same
subject.”
Commission/Taskforce: NA

WYOMING
Legislation: NA
Legislative Language: NA
Commission/Taskforce: NA