STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2484 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 17, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. STERN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requirements for a course of instruction relating to the Holocaust and genocide The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 801 of the education law, 2 as amended by section 27 of part A of chapter 56 of the laws of 2020, 3 are amended to read as follows: 4 1. In order to promote a spirit of patriotic and civic service and 5 obligation and to foster in the children of the state moral and intel- 6 lectual qualities which are essential in preparing to meet the obli- 7 gations of citizenship in peace or in war, the regents of The University 8 of the State of New York shall prescribe courses of instruction in 9 patriotism, citizenship, civic education and values, our shared history 10 of diversity, the role of religious tolerance in this country, and human 11 rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity 12 of genocide, slavery (including the freedom trail and underground rail- 13 road), the Holocaust, and the mass starvation in Ireland from 1845 to 14 1850, in accordance with section eight hundred one-b of this article, to 15 be maintained and followed in all the schools of the state. The boards 16 of education and trustees of the several cities and school districts of 17 the state shall require instruction to be given in such courses, by the 18 teachers employed in the schools therein. All pupils attending such 19 schools, over the age of eight years, shall attend upon such instruc- 20 tion. 21 Similar courses of instruction shall be prescribed and maintained in 22 private schools in the state, and all pupils in such schools over eight 23 years of age shall attend upon such courses. If such courses are not so 24 established and maintained in a private school, attendance upon instruc- 25 tion in such school shall not be deemed substantially equivalent to EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD01461-01-5
A. 2484 2 1 instruction given to pupils of like age in the public schools of the 2 city or district in which such pupils reside. 3 3. The regents shall determine the subjects to be included in such 4 courses of instruction in patriotism, citizenship, civic education and 5 values, our shared history of diversity, the role of history of diversi- 6 ty, the role of religious tolerance in this country, and human rights 7 issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of 8 genocide, slavery (including the freedom trail and underground rail- 9 road), the Holocaust, and the mass starvation in Ireland from 1845 to 10 1850, in accordance with section eight hundred one-b of this article, 11 and in the history, meaning, significance and effect of the provisions 12 of the constitution of the United States, the amendments thereto, the 13 declaration of independence, the constitution of the state of New York 14 and the amendments thereto, and the period of instruction in each of the 15 grades in such subjects. They shall adopt rules providing for attendance 16 upon such instruction and for such other matters as are required for 17 carrying into effect the objects and purposes of this section. The 18 commissioner shall be responsible for the enforcement of such section 19 and shall cause to be inspected and supervise the instruction to be 20 given in such subjects. The commissioner may, in [his] their discretion, 21 cause all or a portion of the public school money to be apportioned to a 22 district or city to be withheld for failure of the school authorities of 23 such district or city to provide instruction in such courses and to 24 compel attendance upon such instruction, as herein prescribed, and for a 25 non-compliance with the rules of the regents adopted as herein provided. 26 § 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 801-b to 27 read as follows: 28 § 801-b. Instruction relating to the Holocaust and genocide. Every 29 public elementary school and high school shall include in its curriculum 30 a unit of instruction studying the events of the Nazi atrocities of 1933 31 to 1945. This period in world history is known as the Holocaust, during 32 which six million Jewish people, including one and one-half million 33 Jewish children, and millions of non-Jews were exterminated. One of the 34 universal lessons of the Holocaust is that national, ethnic, racial, or 35 religious hatred can overtake any nation or society, leading to calami- 36 tous consequences. To reinforce that lesson, such curriculum shall 37 include an additional unit of instruction studying other acts of geno- 38 cide across the globe. This unit shall include, but not be limited to, 39 the Armenian Genocide, the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine, and more recent 40 atrocities in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Sudan. The studying of this 41 material is a reaffirmation of the commitment of free peoples from all 42 nations to never again permit the occurrence of another Holocaust and a 43 recognition that crimes of genocide continue to be perpetrated across 44 the globe as they have been in the past and to deter indifference to 45 crimes against humanity and human suffering wherever they may occur. The 46 commissioner may prepare and make available to all school boards 47 instructional materials which may be used as guidelines for development 48 of a unit of instruction under this section; provided, however, that 49 each school board shall itself determine the minimum amount of instruc- 50 tion time which shall qualify as a unit of instruction satisfying the 51 requirements of this section. The cost for instructional materials is to 52 be borne by the department. 53 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding 54 the date on which it shall have become a law.