Buchanan calls for more Holocaust education, citing anti-Semitism in Florida
Citing reports by the Bradenton Herald and the Anti-Defamation League, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan announced the need for greater Holocaust education, and the likely support of President Donald Trump.
Trump is expected to sign the Never Again Education Act this week, according to a news release from the congressman’s office. Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, is one of many co-sponsors on the legislation, which supports Holocaust education through millions of dollars in funding.
“Anti-Semitism has no place in our country, especially in our schools,” Buchanan said in a prepared statement. “We need to do all we can to combat this evil ideology.”
The bipartisan bill would allocate $2 million in fiscal year 2021 and each of the next four years, supporting Holocaust education through teacher training, online resources, traveling exhibitions and research.
The director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum would oversee the money.
“As intolerance, antisemitism, and bigotry are promoted by hate groups, Holocaust education provides a context in which to learn about the danger of what can happen when hate goes unchallenged and there is indifference in the face of the oppression of others,” the bill states.
In Wednesday’s news release, Buchanan’s office said Florida had a 20 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents last year, “with significant increases in both harassment and assaults.”
His office also cited a report by the Bradenton Herald, which followed the efforts of Beverly and Lawrence Newman, owners of the Al Katz Center for Holocaust Survivors and Jewish Learning in Bradenton.
The Newmans have continually pushed for greater Holocaust education in Manatee County schools.
“Our millennials — our future — must understand that perfect storm of evil,” Beverly Newman said last August, during an interview with the Herald. “It was the complicity of the entire world in allowing the mass enslavement and mass murder of the Jewish people.”
Florida is one of 12 states that require Holocaust education, according to the Never Again Education Act. The law was implemented in 1994, but after more than two decades, there was no process to track compliance.
The State Board of Education approved a new rule in September, requiring districts to submit an annual report on their efforts to comply with Florida Statute 1003.42, “Required Instruction.” Holocaust education was among 20 mandated topics, including African American history, the effects of alcohol and the importance of free enterprise.
The state board can “order compliance within a specified timeframe,” and if a school district is “unwilling or unable to comply,” the board could report to the Legislature and recommend action, according to Florida law.
The state could “withhold the transfer of state funds, discretionary funds, discretionary lottery funds, or any other funds specified as eligible for this purpose.” It could also require a monthly update until the district meets its obligations.
State Rep. Geraldine Thompson, D-Windermere, targeted superintendents and charter school principals for non-compliance earlier this year. Though it never advanced, she co-sponsored a bill that would have stripped leaders of their salaries if they failed to offer Holocaust education and African American history.
In January, the state education commissioner appointed a new chair to the Task Force on Holocaust Education. Barbara Goldstein, the daughter of two Holocaust survivors, will advise Commissioner Richard Corcoran and coordinate activities throughout the state.
Buchanan, a member of the Bipartisan Taskforce to Combat Anti-Semitism, said education was the key to fighting hatred, and he hoped the Never Again Education Act would support that cause.
“The increase of anti-Semitism that we have seen in Florida and across the country is unacceptable,” he said in the news release. “We must deny the purveyors of anti-Semitism the opportunity to spread this hate among our students.”
This story was originally published May 27, 2020 at 1:02 PM.