Civics education is being held back by politics

In this moment of intense polarization, Congress can help heal our nation by supporting the Civics Secures Democracy Act. Reintroduced this past month by a bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) and John Cornyn (R-TX), this landmark bill finally addresses what’s been neglected for nearly half a century in our schools: civic education.

The bill would authorize $1 billion annually over the next five years to support K-12 civic education and U.S. history so that every student in this country has the opportunity to acquire the civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to become informed and engaged members of our constitutional democracy.

This country’s divides are exacerbated by a lack of the civic skills necessary to interact productively with the government and one another. We’ve reached a point at which too many people in the United States simply do not trust their government or its institutions. This mistrust leads people to believe hyperbole and politically motivated mistruths over fact and is particularly dangerous in a self-governed society of, for, and by the people.

Introduced in both the Senate and the House in 2020 by Coons and Cornyn and Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Tom Cole (R-OK), and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), the Civics Secures Democracy Act is a truly bipartisan effort to raise civics and history as a centerpiece of the school system alongside literacy and science, technology, engineering, and math. We have seen what the federal investment of some $50 per year per student in STEM-related subjects can do. Under this bill, the federal investment in civic education would grow from its level of 5 cents per year per student to around $18 per year per student over a five-year period.