The Coalition of 167 major organizations, foundations, and universities from diverse viewpoints will spend the next month meeting with elected officials to build support for the bipartisan bill that would infuse civic education with $1 billion annually.
WASHINGTON, DC [May 4, 2021] — The CivXNow Coalition, a viewpoint diverse coalition of 167 major organizations, foundations, and universities that are working to improve civic education, is engaging in a month-long campaign to garner support on Capitol Hill for the Civics Secures Democracy Act, the bipartisan federal bill that would allocate $1 billion annually to support history and civic education.
The initiative, which kicked off during national Teacher Appreciation Week, will mobilize the Coalition’s members in an effort to reach out to all 535 members of Congress over the next month through virtual meetings with legislators and their staffs to educate them on why the bill is so important.
The Civics Secures Democracy Act (CSD) would bolster states as they attempt to strengthen K-12 history and civic education through grants to local education agencies, education nonprofits, and higher education institutions.
And it is a a truly bipartisan effort, introduced this March in the Senate by Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) and in the House by Representatives Tom Cole (R-Okla.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.).
“We honor civics teachers, guardians of our constitutional democracy, by advocating for passage of the Civics Secures Democracy Act,” Louise Dube, the Executive Director of iCivics, the non-partisan civic education nonprofit that founded the CivXNow Coalition in 2018. “The bill, when passed, will provide their districts with resources for professional development, classroom materials, and student programming, strengthening K-12 civic education.”
The Civics Secures Democracy Act is designed to respect state and local control of our nation’s schools and explicitly prohibits the U.S. Department of Education from developing or requiring any American history and civics curriculum, and leaves all decisions on curriculum, what to teach and how to teach, to state and local education policymakers and their communities. It is critical now, as current federal level investment in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education is approximately $50 per year per student, while federal level investment in American history and civic education is 5 cents per year per student.
As part of the advocacy month, CivXNow is doing civics for civics; leading stakeholder training sessions on how to host a virtual meetings with congressional staff with the goal of making sure that every member of Congress receives multiple contacts from constituents this month in order to grow bipartisan support for the bill, and to encourage both chambers to pass it later this year.
For more information, visit CivXNow.org or contact jacob@oneallen.com
About CivXNow
CivXNow, a project of iCivics, is a coalition of 167 partners from diverse viewpoints working to create a culture shift that elevates civic education and engagement as a national priority in order to protect and strengthen America’s constitutional democracy. This includes building a shared commitment to ensure that all young people are prepared to assume their rights and responsibilities to participate in civic life and address the issues facing students, their families, and communities in our increasingly dynamic, polarized, and digital society.
To achieve this goal, CivXNow advocates for bipartisan federal and state legislation that supports implementation of state and local policies that reimagine and deliver relevant, inclusive, and engaging K-12 civic learning, both in- and out-of-school. Follow us at @CivXNow and visit https://civxnow.org for more information
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