By Aaron Gifford
Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon this week announced “a landmark initiative” for promoting the instruction of civics and America’s founding principles in K–12 schools and higher education institutions across the country.
The America 250 Civics Education Coalition was unveiled during a Sept. 17 event in Washington, alongside representatives of more than 50 conservative organizations, including Turning Point USA, America First Policy Institute, and Hillsdale College.
“A country cannot survive if its values are forgotten by its people,” McMahon said in a news release that coincides with Constitution Day.
“More than ever, we need to restore the vitality of the American spirit, and this coalition will take bold steps to educate, inspire, and mobilize youth toward active, informed citizenship.”
Two days prior, on Sept. 15, McMahon announced that $160 million in competitive grants will be available to states and school districts for American history and civic education.
The coalition of organizations that met with McMahon is expected to announce programming and instructional materials in the months ahead.
A “Fundamental Liberties College Speaker Series” and a 50-state speaking tour on college campuses across the nation are already planned.
“We celebrate Lincoln for his greatness in recalling the nation to the principles of its birth, the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the most beautiful political document in history,” Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn said in a news release.
“It is time to repeat his work and the work of Jefferson and the Founders. We will work together to learn those principles, and for the love of them, we will have a grand celebration.”
McMahon previously announced her intention to work with Congress to eliminate the Department of Education as a central federal agency and move its functions and funding streams to states.
Individual states, not the federal government, mandate curriculum, so which states are interested in applying for grants or participating in this program remains to be seen.
McMahon’s initiative follows Oklahoma’s controversial “America First Initiative,” where teacher applicants from out of state are screened for progressive ideologies.
PragerU, which developed that screening tool and also provides a social studies curriculum for Oklahoma, is a partner in the America 250 Civics Education Coalition.
Still, education professionals and policy experts on both sides of the Oklahoma debate endorse civics classes and more instruction on the Constitution.
First Liberty Institute, one of the partnering agencies, noted that the coalition’s motto is “Know America. Love America.”
“The key to our country’s future is citizens educated to know their freedoms. Those who do not know their freedoms will have them taken away,” Kelly Shackelford, the organization’s president and CEO, said in a news release.
“Many have no idea that religious freedom is our ‘first freedom;’ if you lose that, you will lose all of your freedoms.”
