By Esther Wickham
The Center Square

House representatives passed three bills this week aimed at protecting K-12 classrooms from the influence of the Chinese Communist Party.

The bills – PROTECT Our Kids Act, CLASS Act and TRACE Act – essentially prohibit funding from foreign sources and reinforce protections for American students and families. All three passed with bipartisan support.

U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, introduced H.R. 1005, PROTECT Our Kids Act, which prohibits public schools from accepting funds from foreign sources and requires the schools to disclose contributions over $10,000.

Joyce called the legislation a safeguard against foreign interference in the classroom.

“American classrooms and what is taught in them should be guided by Americans, not by foreign influences,” said Joyce.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Virginia, opposed H.R. 1005, calling it unnecessary during his closing statements on the House floor Wednesday.

“[T]here is absolutely zero credible evidence that K–12 schools are under threat from misinformation or covert influence by authoritarian foreign governments in any meaningful way,” Scott said in a transcript sent to The Center Square. “This bill does nothing to improve our schools, close achievement gaps, or increase teacher pay. Instead, it burdens schools with bureaucratic red tape due to imagined covert influence from foreign governments.”

Republican lawmakers disagree.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Oklahoma, introduced H.R. 1069, the CLASS Act, which blocks federal education funds from going to any public school that has received direct or indirect support from foreign sources.

“The threat of the CCP is real and growing, and we absolutely must do what we can to protect our children from anti-American brainwashing material funded by one of our greatest adversaries,” Hern told The Center Square in an email. “The 164 Democrats who voted against passing my PROTECT Our Kids Act and believe the CCP isn’t a threat to our education system are either willfully ignorant or too caught up in partisan politics.”

U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Florida, introduced H.R. 1049, the TRACE Act, which seeks to allow parents the right to request information about foreign influence in education.

“The TRACE Act puts parents back in charge, exposes foreign influence for what it is, and slams the door on hostile nations trying to reach America’s youth,” Bean said.

“The CCP uses our free and open society against us, bankrolling civil organizations … to sponsor exchange programs and curriculum that hide the truth about China,” Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Michigan, said on the House Floor Wednesday.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Michigan, said the measures reverse unchecked foreign influence under the Biden administration and emphasized that “federal funding is a privilege, not a right.”