A BILL for an Act to create and enact a new section to chapter 15.1-21 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to required Holocaust education.
HB 1527 would require every North Dakota school district to provide grade-level appropriate Holocaust education and to incorporate that instruction into the required United States history curriculum. The bill also specifies that world history instruction must include a set of Holocaust-related topics, including the causes and ramifications of the Holocaust, the history of antisemitism, the Third Reich, concentration camps, resistance by Jews and non-Jews, post-World War II trials, and the role of the United States and its armed forces. It defines key terms such as “antisemitism,” “Holocaust,” and “Nazi” for purposes of the new section.
The bill also would require the superintendent of public instruction to submit an annual report to the governor and legislative management on implementation, including how many schools are complying. In effect, it creates a statewide instructional mandate and a reporting requirement tied to Holocaust education standards within existing social studies coursework.
HB 1527 would add a new section to chapter 15.1-21 of the North Dakota Century Code, creating a statewide requirement for Holocaust education in public school curricula. It would affect school districts, the superintendent of public instruction, and the structure of required U.S. history and world history instruction by mandating specific content areas and annual compliance reporting.
The bill appears to have been framed as an educational and historical instruction measure, with no recorded committee transcript or vote details showing public debate in the available materials. Its adoption by the Education Committee suggests at least some committee-level support, but the bill ultimately failed on April 11, 2025, indicating it did not advance to enactment.
The main points of potential contention are the scope of the curriculum mandate, the level of detail required in classroom instruction, and the administrative burden of annual reporting and compliance tracking. Because the bill defines antisemitism by reference to the IHRA working definition and incorporates specific historical and civic themes, any disagreement would likely center on whether the state should prescribe this level of curricular specificity and how schools should implement it within existing instructional requirements.