Exclusive: A new House bill introduced Friday seeks to require parents to be notified about curriculum sourced or funded from abroad as a condition of their children’s schools receiving federal aid.
The issue has grown in importance in recent months as states such as Oklahoma have sought to weaken the influence of “Confucius Classrooms” and other programs allegedly linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In Congress, members of the House Education and Labor Committee introduced the bill on Friday afternoon and expect it to move forward in legislation soon, lawmakers told Fox News Digital.
The TRACE Act (Transparency in Reporting Adversarial Contributions to Education) would require schools to give parents the opportunity to review curriculum provided or purchased with foreign funds.
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Schools will also be required to inform parents of any foreign contracts or financial transactions in which they participate.
This law: Parental Bill of Rights, The bill, authored by Louisiana Republican Rep. Julia Letlow, passed the House in 2023. The bill would give parents more than a dozen prescribed “rights” that would increase access and transparency into their children’s daily learning.
Friday’s bill also provides for parents to be notified about how many school employees are receiving compensation from other countries or “foreign entities of concern,” as well as whether foreign actors are making donations to the school.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-Ill.), chairwoman of the House Education Committee, said Friday that the TRACE bill would provide more information to parents.
“We know that significant investment from foreign countries is flowing into American elementary and secondary schools and can influence personnel and curriculum decisions,” Fox said.
“As things stand, school administrators are not required to disclose where their funds come from. This is unacceptable.”
Rep. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.), the lead sponsor of the TRACE bill, said American schools are “places of education, not places for espionage” and should be in parents’ control.
“We cannot allow our students – the future of our great nation – to be corrupted by a hostile foreign power that is systematically and aggressively trying to influence our primary and secondary schools,” Bean said.
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“But this is what happens when our nation’s educational institutions accept the Trojan horse of foreign funding. My bill will strengthen parents’ rights to know how foreign influence is affecting their children’s education and seek to stop foreign countries from influencing America’s youth.”
In 2023, Oklahoma’s top elected education official also called for congressional action to blunt foreign influence in schools, vowing to be on the front lines of fighting unjustified interference in children’s education.
Oklahoma Superintendent of Education Ryan Walters said at the time that allowing foreign influence in American schools, especially without informing citizens and parents, was a national security risk after his office investigated school districts that used the “Confucius Classroom” program.
Walters spoke to Fox News Digital on Friday about the broader issue of foreign interference in schools, referencing an investigation into the Tulsa school system at the time, which he said has since been resolved.
In a statement to Fox News at the time, Tulsa Public Schools said there is “no Confucius Class program within the district.” The Oklahoman reported that the district did fund professional development classes for one high school’s Chinese language teachers, which were run through an outside organization based in Texas called the Confucius Class Coordination Office.
Walters said he was technically correct at the time when he claimed the school wasn’t hosting such programs because it was shortly after the state announced the upcoming ban.
“What shocked us was that the funding was hidden from parents, and that it was actually the Chinese Communist Party that was funding the nonprofits that worked directly in the schools,” he said Friday.
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He said Oklahoma had led the nation in examining foreign influences on the nation’s curriculum, and noted that Florida has since followed suit.
“What we’ve done at my agency is we will not allow the district to partner with countries that are hostile to the United States, as determined by our national security group,” he said.
Walters said Oklahoma requires parents to know “who is teaching their children” and what they are being taught.
He warned that without such oversight, the risk of foreign influence from malign nations remains, in the same way that Mao’s “Little Red Book” manipulated and brainwashed Chinese students.
An order from Governor Walters dated Aug. 29, 2023, provided to Fox News Digital, required superintendents of schools across the state to submit to the Governor’s office a list of foreign governments or organizations that have provided funding or “in-kind services” to school districts, and the amounts provided.
Walters said schools have been given about two weeks to comply in this regard.
