New Jersey, which was the first state in the nation to form an Advisory Council on Holocaust Education as well as the first to mandate instruction on the Holocaust and genocides, also requires every district, charter and renaissance school to complete the online New Jersey Holocaust Mandate Survey within 60 days of receipt, or no later than Oct. 16, 2023, the New Jersey Department of Education noted in an advisory.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 17, 2023, Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation (A4720) requiring the commissioner of education and the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education to design and distribute a survey to measure how each school district is meeting the state’s requirement to include instruction on the Holocaust and genocide in an appropriate place in the curriculum of all elementary and secondary school students.
The goal of the survey is to inform the Commission on Holocaust Education on how each school district is meeting the instruction requirements of N.J.S.A. 18A:35-28. The results from the survey will be used by the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education to provide educators, schools and districts with professional development, tools and resources to strengthen student learning of the Holocaust and genocides.
Pursuant to P.L. 2023, Chapter 36, approved April 17, 2023, the superintendent or a designee of each New Jersey public school district, charter and renaissance school shall complete the survey within 60 days of receiving it and submit with the survey response an attestation affirming that the school district is meeting the instruction requirements established pursuant to section two of P.L.1994, c.13 (C.18A:35-28).
Please contact the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education at 609-376-3778 or via email with any questions or concerns.