CCP Funding U.S. Public Schools?

The Chinese Communist Party has reportedly funneled millions of dollars into the American public school system, leading to a Republican probe of the funds.

According to the Daily Mail, the CCP has pumped $17 million into U.S. public schools through Confucius Institutes and other cultural and language programs.

The outlet cites a report by Parents Defending Education, saying the Confucius Classrooms included 143 school districts in 34 states and Washington, D.C.

“In addition, at least seven contracts are still active in Texas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington,” the Daily Mail states.

Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) has reportedly demanded the Education Department take ‘urgent’ action.

How CHINA is funding America's public schools https://t.co/9YZhfUMagt pic.twitter.com/vailHbHjAW

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) July 31, 2023

Daily Mail reports:

The report called ‘Little Red Classrooms’ reveals that $17 million has been funneled from CCP-connected financial institutions into U.S. K-12 schools, through Confucius Institutes and other cultural and language programs.

It also states that the CCP has ‘ties to school districts near 20 U.S. military bases’ and three of the nation’s top science and technology high schools have been infiltrated.

‘While the United States is not officially part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese state media has touted the work done by Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms to further the Chinese Communist Party’s global influence,’ the report continues.

China has facilitated these relationships through grants and sister school partnerships going back to 2009. Programming and funding has varied between school districts, the report adds.

PDE President Nicki Neily said in a statement that the ‘alarming evidence’ uncovered by the investigation should ‘concern parents, educators, and policymakers alike.’

The report has been given to state and federal lawmakers in the hopes that it will spur action.

Parents Defending Education President Nicole Neily spoke about the nonprofit’s report on Fox News.

WATCH:

📺I was on Fox & Friends to discuss @DefendingEd’s new bombshell report exposing how Chinese Communist Party-linked entities have infiltrated American K-12 schools without parents’ knowledge.

Our elected officials need to take immediate action to find out the extent of these… pic.twitter.com/XvtBxj55vK

— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) July 29, 2023

"@DefendingEd, a grassroots organization dedicated to fighting indoctrination in the classroom, says it has uncovered disturbing evidence linking Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-sponsored financial entities to American K-12 schools."https://t.co/pg7WFP4gzT

— Victims of Communism (@VoCommunism) July 27, 2023

Fox News reports:

According to the letters, which have been obtained by Fox News Digital, the investigation exposed how millions of dollars of China-linked funding has flowed into America’s K-12 classrooms. PDE believes American students are subject to CCP propaganda under the guise of Chinese language and culture programming.

“The fact the Chinese government had so much access to American classrooms, students, and curriculums should worry families,” PDE senior adviser Michele P. Exner wrote to McCaul.

The committee chairs were informed that through “records requests and publicly available information, it was discovered that 143 school districts across the United States have engaged in contracts to establish Confucius Institutes and Classrooms,” including in three of the nation’s top science and technology high schools, and several that are near 20 U.S. military bases.

“Considering China’s adversarial relationship with the United States, this poses significant security risks that warrant immediate attention from your committee,” Exner wrote to Foxx.

According to Parents Defending Education, the Confucius Programs are still in operation in the following school districts:

• Cloverport Independent School District, KY
• Minnetonka Public Schools, MN
• St. Cloud Area School District, MN
• Tulsa Public Schools, OK
• Sisters School District, OR
• Highland Park Independent School District, TX
• Seattle Public Schools, WA

From Parents Defending Education’s ‘Little Red Classrooms’ Report:

Confucius Institutes have garnered their share of controversy. Hanban’s former director Xu Lin demanded her staff remove references to Taiwanese institutions from a conference program, as well as withholding funding for not following the Chinese Communist Party line. Former Chinese Communist Party Senior Chairman Li Changchun in 2009 said that Confucius Institutes were “an important part of China’s overseas propaganda set-up.”⁵

The United States is not officially part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative—a global investment campaign launched in 2013 that seeks to advance the Chinese Communist Party’s policy infrastructure, technology, and education initiatives.⁶ However, Confucius Institutes, Confucius Classrooms, and other Chinese government-backed programming in the United States support Belt and Road Initiative efforts. A 2017 Hanban report stated that the “Confucius Institutes have become a vital force for international cooperation under the [sic] ‘Belt and Road’ initiative.” In a Chinese state media article from 2016, the Chinese Communist Party “lauded” Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms for promoting its Belt and Road Initiative.

According to the Brookings Institution, in 2020 China’s Ministry of Education replaced Hanban with the Center for Language Education and Cooperation. The Chinese International Education Foundation, a “nominally independent” organization that is “supervised” by the Ministry of Education, now manages Confucius Institutes abroad.⁷

U.S.-based organizations, namely the College Board and Asia Society, worked with Hanban to tailor Chinese culture and language immersion programs to U.S. school districts. They also collaborated on funding Confucius programs in universities and K-12 schools. At times, these organizations would pair American universities with sister universities in China, which curbed costs for U.S. schools. ^{8 9}

The Asia Society, which has received funding from Open Society, the Carnegie Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation, was a key participant in Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms until it ended its relationship with the programs in June of 2021. The Asia Society operated the Confucius Classroom Network with funding support from the Chinese International Education Foundation, an organization created by Hanban.¹⁰

Alarmingly, Parents Defending Education uncovered at least two connections between American schools and China schools tied to the Chinese military and energy operations. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia partnered with Tsinghua University High School, helping the Chinese-based school to adopt rigorous science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programming. Tsinghua University High School is connected to Tsinghua University, a Chinese military school¹¹ that is “supervised” by the Chinese defense industry, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.¹²

The Simpson County Board of Education in Kentucky entered into an agreement with the North China Electric Power University to develop the Confucius Institute of Western Kentucky. The North China Electric Power University works directly with the Chinese government’s energy sector to push China’s global energy initiatives, as part of its Belt and Road Initiative.¹³ The Chinese International Education Foundation, sponsored by the Confucius Institute, tasked the university with selecting more than 34 Chinese teachers to send to Simpson County Public Schools for the 2020-2021 school year.