June 1, 2021

Assembly Bill No. 231–Assemblywomen Cohen and Krasner

AN ACT relating to education; requiring the State Board of Education to appoint a subcommittee to review and make recommendations on the manner in which to provide certain information to pupils concerning the Holocaust and other genocides; requiring the subcommittee to review the manner in which certain standards support comprehensive education on the Holocaust; requiring the State Board to submit a report to the Legislative Committee on Education; requiring the Legislative Committee on Education to submit a report to the Legislature; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.

Legislative Counsel’s Digest:

Existing law requires the Council to Establish Academic Standards for Public Schools to establish standards of content and performance for various subjects. (NRS 389.520) Section1of this bill requires the State Board of Education to appoint a subcommittee toreview and make recommendations on the manner in which to provide age-appropriate and historically accurate instruction relating to the Holocaust and other genocides, such as the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, Guatemalan and Rwandan genocides, in certain courses of study. Section 1requires the review conducted and recommendations made by the subcommittee to include, without limitation: (1) the manner in which to modify the curricula of certain courses to include certain instruction on the Holocaust and other genocides, such as the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, Guatemalan and Rwandan genocides; (2) an inventory of available classroom resources for educators; (3) any professional development that may be necessary for a teacher who provides certain instruction on the Holocaust and other genocides, such as the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, Guatemalan and Rwandan genocides; and (4) consideration of any similar instruction provided in another state or school district.

Section 1requires the subcommittee to review the manner in which current standards support comprehensive education on the Holocaust and other genocides, such as the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, Guatemalan and Rwandan genocides. Section 1sets forth the membership of the subcommittee. Section 1requires the State Board of Education to, on or before October 1 of each even-numbered year, submit a report to the Legislative Committee on Education. Section 1requires the Legislative Committee on Education to consider such a report and, onor before February 1 of each odd-numbered year, prepare and submit a written report to the Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau for transmittal to the Legislature.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED INSENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

Section1.Chapter 388 of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto a new section to read as follows:

1.TheState 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, such as the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, Guatemalan and Rwandan genocides, in social studies and language arts courses of study.

2.The review conducted and any recommendations made by the subcommittee pursuant to this section must include, without limitation:

(a)The manner in which to modify the curricula of relevant courses in social studies and language arts to include the instruction described in this section;

(b)An inventory of available classroom resources for educators to meet the requirements of this section;

(c)The professional development that may be necessary or appropriate for a teacher who provides the instruction described in this section;

and(d)Consideration of any similar instruction provided in another state or school district.

3.The subcommittee shall link current standards with community resources that may assist in the implementation of the instruction described in subsection 1. Thesubcommittee shall review the manner in which the current standards support comprehensive education regarding the Holocaust and other genocides, such as the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, Guatemalan and Rwandan genocides, including, without limitation, by:

(a)Preparing pupils to confront the immorality of the Holocaust, other genocides, such as the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, Guatemalan and Rwandan genocides, and other acts of mass violence and to reflect on the causes of related historical events;

(b)Addressing the breadth of the history of the Holocaust, including, without limitation, the dictatorship of the Third Reich, the system of concentration camps, the persecution of both Jewish and non-Jewish people, the resistance to the Third Reich and the Holocaust by both Jewish and non-Jewish people and the various trials that occurred after the end of World War II;

(c)Developing the respect of pupils for cultural diversity and helping pupils to gain insight into the importance of international human rights for all people;

(d)Promoting the understanding of pupils of how the Holocaust contributed to the need for the term “genocide” and led to international legislation that recognized genocide as a crime;

(e)Communicating the impact of personal responsibility, civic engagement and societal responsiveness;

(f)Stimulating the reflection of pupils on the role and responsibility of citizens in democratic societies to combat misinformation, indifference and discrimination through the development of critical thinking skills and through tools of resistance such as protest, reform and celebration;

(g)Providing pupils with opportunities to contextualize and analyze patterns of human behavior by persons and groups who belong in one or more categories, including,without limitation, perpetrator, collaborator, bystander, victim and rescuer;

(h)Enabling pupils to understand the ramifications of prejudice, racism and stereotyping;

(i)Preserving the memories of survivors of genocide and providing opportunities forpupils to discuss and honor the cultural legacies of survivors;

(j)Providing pupils with a foundation for examining the history of discrimination in this State;

(k)Including in curricula the use of personal narratives and multimedia primary source materials, which may include, without limitation, video testimony, photographs, artwork, diary entries, letters, government documents, maps and poems; and

(l)Exploring the various mechanisms of transitional and restorative justice that help humanity move forward in the aftermath of genocide.

4.The subcommittee must be composed of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, or his or her designee, and the following members appointed by the Superintendent:

(a)Three members representing the Governor’s Advisory Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust created by NRS 233G.020;

(b)Three members representing nonprofit organizations that have developed curricula regarding the Holocaust for use in public schools;

(c)At least one member representing a school district in which 60,000 or more pupils are enrolled;

(d)At least one member representing a school district in which fewer than 60,000 pupils are enrolled;

(e)At least one member representing a charter school located in this State;

(f)At least one member representing nonprofit organizations that have developed curricula for use in public schools regarding the Armenian genocide; and

(g)At least one member representing nonprofit organizations that have developed curricula for use in public schools regarding genocides other than the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide.

5.On or before October 1 of each even-numbered year, the State Board shall report its findings and any recommendations to the Legislative Committee on Education, including, without limitation, any recommendations made by the subcommittee pursuant to subsection 1, as well as any actions the State Board has taken or intends to take to include the instruction in the relevant courses pursuant to subsection 2.

6.On or before February 1 of each odd-numbered year, the Legislative Committee on Education shall consider the report submitted by the State Board and prepare and submit a written report to the Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau for transmittal to the Legislature concerning the Committee’s consideration of the matters described in this section and any recommendations for legislation to ensure the instruction described in this section is included in the curricula for the relevant courses.

7.As used in this section:

(a)“Genocide” means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group and includes, without limitation, genocides and other acts of mass atrocities identified by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:

(1)Killing members of the group;

(2)Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(3)Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole orin part;

(4)Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and

(5)Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

(b)“Holocaust” means the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately 6,000,000 Jewish persons and 5,000,000 other persons by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

Secs.2-5.(Deleted by amendment.)

Sec.6.The provisions of subsection 1 of NRS 218D.380 do not apply to any provision of this act which adds or revises a requirement to submit a report to the Legislature.

Sec.7.This act becomes effective on July 1,2021