Senate Holocaust education bill dies in the House -- again
Apr. 11—dbeard @dominionpost.com MORGANTOWN — The Legislature is plowing through bills as it heads to close of session midnight Saturday, but the Senate bill to require Holocaust education in the public schools will once again remain on the shelf—for the third year in a row.
House Education looked at SB 54 last week but never advanced it to the floor.
Education vice-chair Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, told The Dominion Post on Friday, "We did not take it up because after talking with the Department of Education, it is already being taught in different grade levels in the school systems across the state today."
The bill says, "In collaboration with and utilizing guidance from the West Virginia Commission on Holocaust Education ... all public schools located within this state shall give age-appropriate instruction on the Holocaust, the systematic, planned annihilation of European Jews and other groups by Nazi Germany, a watershed event in the history of humanity, to be taught in a manner that leads to an investigation of human behavior, and an examination of what it means to be a responsible and respectful person."
Such instruction would not be offered before sixth grade.
The issue Statler raised was also raised in Senate Education in March, where Sen. Craig Hart, R-Mingo, questioned the necessity of the bill, given that Holocaust education appears in other content standards.
Committee chair Amy Grady, R-Mason, said then that while current standards call for teaching on the Holocaust at some point, the bill would change code to make sure it is required somewhere from grades 6-12.
Several people who championed the bill expressed disappointment at its demise.
Lisa Hildebrand is a Boone County teacher and advocates for the bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia.
She testified to House Education when it held its hearing on the bill. She told the delegates that she grew up in a diverse culture in the Philadelphia suburbs.
But in Boone County she sees a lack of diversity, she said. "With that lack of diversity is a lack of understanding, even some lack of tolerance."
Those students don't have the opportunity to interact with others or trawl outside their area, she said. She brought Rabbi Victor Urecki, of Charleston, to school several times, and for some this was their first opportunity to meet a Jew.
She received a grant to go to Poland, she said, where she met with a survivor, and visited Auschwitz and other areas. "When I came back from there, I made it my mission to have Holocaust education be put in schools. I think it would benefit everybody."
Thursday evening, discussing the bill's demise, she told The Dominion Post, "I just cannot fathom why the House chairs have a problem with the bill. Our kids deserve to know how to deal with antisemitism and associated behaviors. The not-in-my-backyard mentality is old. Our state has a serious population problem. Brain-drain. They leave and are unprepared for what is seen on college campuses and city streets."
The state education standards are limited in their requirement to teach the Holocaust, she said. "I've been a teacher for about a decade, and nowhere are there sources for educators to teach how to combat antisemitism and related behaviors. This bill offers resources to help educators achieve this goal."
The committee held the hearing on SB 54 but never put it back on its agenda for markup and passage.
Laurent Levy is an emeritus member of the Holocaust Education Commission. He told The Dominion Post, "Obviously, we are extremely disappointed by the failure of the House Education Committee to even take up this bill, which passed the Senate unanimously. This marks at least the third time that the Senate has passed similar legislation only to have it go nowhere in the House.
"What makes this year's failure so bitter, " he said, "is that the committee did not even bother to debate the bill or go on record as to what their opposition could possibly be. What could be so objectionable about joining nearly 30 other states, including Alabama, South Carolina, and Florida to name a few, that have come to realize the crucial importance of Holocaust education ?"
Levy said the bill asked for no state funding, no enforcement, and made no encroachment on local school board authority. "It simply sought to recognize the importance of the profound lessons of the Holocaust by utilizing the resources of the Commission on Holocaust Education my mother [the late Edith Levy, of Morgantown ] helped to establish over 25 years ago. That Commission stands ready to provide the vital resources and the pedagogical tools teachers need to effectively present this difficult subject in an age-appropriate manner. It was established precisely in anticipation of fulfilling the requirements of SB 54."
But they won't give up, he said. "Rest assured we will be back again next year, again confidently assured of Sen. Oliverio's support and leadership and hopefully with enlightened leadership on the Education Committee."
Oliverio could not be reached for comment on Friday.
While SB 54 is technically alive until the Legislature adjourns Saturday night, it's practically dead. To have a chance, it would need to be successfully discharged from committee and have the House rules suspended to have three readings in a single day in order to go to a vote.
Last year, this bill was SB 448 and died on second reading on the Senate floor. In 2023, a different bill with different sponsors, SB 216, called for education on the Holocaust and other genocides. It passed the Senate and was approved in House Education but died in House Finance.
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