Relating to Holocaust education and training for public school educators and students.
Summary
SB 735 would expand and formalize Holocaust education in Texas public schools. It requires regional education service centers to regularly collaborate with Holocaust museums to improve educator training and classroom instruction, and it updates the Education Code to strengthen Holocaust Remembrance Week requirements for school districts and open-enrollment charter schools.
The bill also adds reporting and notice provisions. Each district and charter school would have to submit an annual report to the Texas Education Agency describing the Holocaust Remembrance Week instruction offered, including activities, lessons, and instructional materials used. TEA would then compile those reports and share them with regional education service centers and the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission. TEA would also be required to notify schools in advance of the designated week and the related instruction and reporting requirements.
Impact
SB 735 would amend the Education Code to create new statewide obligations for school districts, charter schools, regional education service centers, the Texas Education Agency, and the Texas Historical Commission. It would take effect September 1, 2025, with the updated Holocaust Remembrance Week requirements applying beginning in the 2025-2026 school year. The bill also creates a Holocaust Remembrance Week grant program to fund lesson plans, field trips, educator training, digital resources, and bilingual curricula, using appropriated funds or outside gifts, grants, and donations.
Sentiment
The available legislative history suggests the bill moved forward without recorded opposition in the provided vote data, and there are no committee transcript excerpts indicating controversy. Its subject matter and structure indicate broad support for Holocaust education, educator training, and expanded instructional resources. The bill was advanced to the House General State Calendar after clearing earlier procedural steps.
Contention
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. Potential areas of practical concern, however, could include the administrative burden of annual reporting on districts and charter schools, the cost and availability of grant funding, and how instructional materials and training would be developed and approved. The bill also relies on coordination among multiple state entities and Holocaust museums, which may raise implementation questions even if there is no recorded opposition in the available record.
Relating to the rights of public school educators and financial and other assistance provided to educators and to public schools by the Texas Education Agency related to public school educators.
Relating to the rights of public school educators and assistance provided to public schools by the Texas Education Agency related to public school educators.
Enacting the Holocaust education act to require school districts to provide instruction on Holocaust education and awareness as part of the social studies curriculum for students in grades six through 12.