WV Senate Committee advances bill requiring Holocaust education, removes parts related to understanding prejudice, racism and stereotyping

BBG Folk Reporter Starrie Schulz has the scoop on what went down during Thursday’s Senate Education Committee meeting.

A bill mandating the inclusion of Holocaust education in school curricula after grade six passed the committee and headed to the Senate Floor: Senate Bill 54.

Although several history class curricula already include Holocaust education, the purpose of this bill is to clarify that such education is required for West Virginia students. 

All senators who participated in discussion on the bill agreed that the tragedy of the Holocaust is important to teach to students. But Sen. Craig Hart, R-Mingo, and Sen. Rollan Roberts, R-Raleigh, expressed concerns with the wording of the bill.

Sen. Roberts proposed removing lines related to understanding prejudice, racism and stereotyping; encouraging diversity; and protecting democratic values and institutions. He argued that these elements are “implied” given the topic at hand and restricted the freedom of teachers to design their curricula.

Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, questioned whether the proposed wording change was simply due to a larger trend of West Virginia removing any mention of prejudice or diversity in state law, rather than redundancy in the bill itself. Prohibiting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs is one of Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s key policy priorities, as BBG Folk Reporters have previously reported.

Regardless, the amended wording was adopted, and the bill passed to the Senate. 

Starrie’s Vibe Check: I’m glad everyone agrees on the importance of teaching students about the Holocaust. That being said, ignoring the years of prejudice and discrimination that enabled such a genocide to occur is only telling half of the story. 

Although in line with current cultural trends in this country, removing explicit mentions of prejudice, diversity and democratic values means some West Virginia students will leave school being unable to recognize the cultural context in which great human tragedy can occur. 

However, this wording change likely protects this bill from later repeal given how all mentions of “diversity” are currently being scrubbed from our society.

A bill was discussed that would require that the Classic Learning Test (CLT) be accepted as an alternative to the SAT or ACT in West Virginia college admissions and scholarship awarding: SB 695.

The CLT is a standardized test established in 2015 by conservative Christian education activists, according to reporting from NPR. Its creators describe the test as a college readiness exam comparable to the SAT or ACT, although no formal studies have been done comparing the tests. 

Several senators expressed doubt over passage of this bill, given there has not been investigation into the CLT’s ability to predict college readiness with the same accuracy as those tests. Matt Turner, executive vice chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, confirmed that they had not yet been given the opportunity to study the CLT and its merits.

Committee Chair Sen. Grady, R-Mason, was quick to point out that 14 states allow the CLT as “another test option” and 280 colleges and universities allow it to be used in admissions. Sen. Michael Oliverio, R-Monongalia, emphasized that 70 percent of states and 85 percent of colleges and universities don’t allow CLT as a test alternative. 

After thorough discussion, the bill was held over to be discussed at a future meeting.

Starrie’s Vibe Check: Standardized tests notoriously favor students from highly educated, wealthy backgrounds. Reforming the SAT-ACT monopoly is a crucial step in making college admissions more fair. However, the CLT cannot provide evidence that it accurately measures college readiness, even on the level of its competitors. This test has become popular within conservative education movements, so of course West Virginia legislators want to make our state an early adopter. Further investigation into this new standardized test is warranted, and I’m glad the committee agrees.