On December 3, House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg formally supported two bills introduced to combat foreign influence in American education: First, H.R. 1005, the CLASS Act—“Combating the Lies of Authoritarians in School Systems Act,” which requires as a condition of any school receiving federal monies that it disclose any foreign funds or contracts in excess of $10,000; second, H.R. 1049, or the TRACE Act—“Transparency in Reporting of Adversarial Contributions to Education Act,” which requires as a condition of a state education agency receiving federal funds that it notify parents of their right to know and obtain documents from a school about any funds, financial transactions or contracts it might have with a foreign country or entity.
Both bills were first introduced in February alongside a third, more China-specific measure, H.R. 1069, the PROTECT Our Kids Act, or “Promoting Responsible Oversight to Eliminate Communist Teaching for Our Kids Act,” which completely bans federal funds “to any elementary or secondary school that has a partnership in effect with a cultural or language institute directly or indirectly funded by the Government of the People’s Republic of China including a Confucius Institute … or otherwise receives support from an individual or entity” acting on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The bills confirm that the House Education Committee is aware of the problem of foreign influence in American education. They address basic issues such as disclosure and transparency, parental rights and, in the case of China, the PROTECT Act bans federal funding of schools partnering with the CCP.
“These bills are definitely steps in the right direction,” said Ian Oxnevad, National Association of Scholars (NAS) Senior Fellow for Foreign Affairs and Security Studies. “NAS has long-advocated for protecting American sovereignty in our universities and in our K-12 system.”
NAS Policy Director Teresa R. Manning agrees: “The House of Representatives should be commended for all three of these commonsense bills. Their sponsors have shown real leadership.”
That said, NAS remains concerned about the actual enforcement of these policies. “Federal law already requires universities to report the foreign funds they receive under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965. But for many years, colleges have simply ignored this requirement with impunity, as the Education Department in the first Trump Administration documented,” cautioned Oxnevad.
Manning added, however, that, “NAS is pleased to see the second Trump Administration pick up where the first one left off—not only announcing a new portal for schools to use to report foreign gifts but also serious investigations into schools that have failed to report. So these Congressional initiatives show that Congress and the Administration are both aware of the problem and are acting for the good.”
NAS recommends Certificates of Compliance as a more effective enforcement tool. NAS recommends that Congressional bills or agency rules require a single school official to sign and file with Congress a Certificate of Compliance with Section 117, or with other disclosure mandates, as a condition of federal funding. That way, a named school authority can be held accountable for failures to report.
Audits. NAS has also suggested that bills and rules require schools to be audited, including by the IRS, for compliance with Section 117 and other transparency measures.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
