The United States Department of Education has announced it will partner with dozens of conservative organization to create civics programming for public schools across the nation. The coalition includes organizations such as Turning Point USA, the Heritage Foundation, Hillsdale College, the America First Policy Institute, the 1776 Project Foundation and more.
Many of these organization have been involved in conservative efforts to stop teaching civil rights material, oust school board members who believe in teaching social justice, ban books, and whitewash history lessons.
In a press release, Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon said the group, “will take bold steps to educate, inspire, and mobilize youth toward active and informed citizenship.” She also said the coalition, “is dedicated to renewing patriotism, strengthening civic knowledge, and advancing a shared understanding of America’s founding principles in schools across the nation.”
The programming, which will include college visits, assemblies, and history competitions, will roll out over the next twelve months at high schools and public colleges in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. It’s not yet clear if elementary schools will be involved.
The program will also award grants to programs that, “promote a civic education that teaches American history, values, and geography with an unbiased approach.” This comes after Trump has cut literally billions in dollars in existing education grants that include the arts, literacy, higher education, and — yep — civics.
This move is interesting since President Donald Trump and the federal administration have taken great measures to dismantle and shutter the Department of Education in the past nine months. Almost half of the department was laid off during the government’s Reduction in Force (RIF) and another almost 600 took severance packages and left. A number of programs and areas were hit especially hard, student financial aid, civil rights protection, teacher grants, special needs education, and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
It almost seems as if the administration is dismantling the parts of the Education Department it does not like, while using it in new ways to promote their own thinking and goals.
The federal government is prohibited by law to control state curriculum, and this administration has stressed that they are taking power away from the Education Department to give it back to the states.
The coalition held its first meeting this week.
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