It's Genocide Awareness Month, and state Sen. Anna Kaplan has introduced legislation that would put teeth in the current state mandate requiring Holocaust education for students ages 8to 18.

Kaplan co-sponsored the bill, which she says is important because every kid should know about the Holocaust.

"A great bill which will assess which schools are meeting this important requirement to educate our kids about the Holocaust and come up with a plan to ensure that every child is learning about our history in every school across the state," says Kaplan.

Advocates of the bill point to a recent study that shows New Yorkers ages 18 to 39 have poor understanding of the Holocaust, with 58% unable to name a concentration camp, 19% believing that Jews caused the Holocaust and 28% believing the Holocaust is a myth.

Students and teachers News 12 spoke with say the bill help foster tolerance to prevent atrocities of the past from happening in the future.

"I think it's really important where we start at that level where kids are educated and know this is what happened and let's not let it happen again," says Tyler Menker, of Great Neck.