As the country heads toward its 250th anniversary this summer, civics education is having a moment in the national spotlight.
At least 44 states have introduced legislation this year that relates to the subject. And the U.S. Department of Education last year announced that it would make “patriotic education” a priority, awarding more than $150 million in grants through the American History and Civics program. The Education Department also launched the America 250 Civics Coalition, a group of more than 40 conservative organizations that will plan programming for schools and universities in advance of the anniversary. Now, one senator is trying to advance another vision for what dedicating funding and support for civics education could look like at the national level.
Sen. Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, introduced a series of bills this month that would create a bipartisan commission focused on civics and incentivize nonpartisan, hands-on civic learning.
His American Civics Renewal Act would establish a congressional commission to identify ways the federal government can support states and districts in civics education, including collecting best practices. The bill also calls for the commission to develop “an age-appropriate model civics curriculum.”
A separate bill, the Every Student is a Citizen Act, would amend education law to explicitly allow schools to use federal funding to support service-learning projects, field trips to seats of government and historical sites, meetings with local elected officials and community organizations, voter registration, and student journalism and media literacy.
“Our democracy is inherently about participation,” said Kim. “It’s not about just reading books and building up that knowledge. It’s meant to get us to do this in a community of citizens and to engage more broadly.”
Still, getting any kind of civics legislation passed at the national level has been an uphill battle. Most recently, the Civics Secures Democracy Act, introduced in 2021, didn’t reach a full floor vote, despite bipartisan support and backing from a coalition of hundreds of civics education organizations. The bill would have allocated $1 billion annually for the subject through grants to states, universities, and nonprofits.
And Kim’s proposals venture into politically charged territory—an instructional divide between those who favor a more traditional, content-based approach to the topic and those who favor civics that emphasizes participation in solving local civic problems.
Hands-on civics education, often referred to as “action civics,” is a common practice in K-12 classrooms, and one that professional organizations say can help students see the importance of civics in their own lives. But it’s also become a Republican target in recent years, with critics arguing that it can foist teachers’ political beliefs on their students. At least one state, Texas, has banned schools from facilitating some kinds of communication between students and elected officials.
Education Week spoke with Kim about why he thinks it’s important to support civics education now, what changes he hopes legislation will bring, and whether it’s possible to get Republicans and Democrats to agree on how schools should teach the American story.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Tell me about why you introduced this package of legislation, and why it’s important to focus on civics education right now.
There was an intersection in my mind here about where we’re at as a country. I have a 3rd grader and a 5th grader, two boys 8 and 10. My mind is thinking about not just the current climate, but where we’re heading as a country, and trying to think through, how do we try to reignite this sense that we’re all part of something bigger than all of us?
In particular, with the 250th anniversary of our country upon us, I really thought that this could be the moment, and needs to be the moment, where we have that opportunity to take a step back—look at where our country’s been, which is certainly something that we’re looking at as a country right now with the 250th anniversary, but also this question of where we go from here.
I feel very strongly that [finding] a way to supercharge our civics education as a country has to be a huge part of that effort and an important tool, especially as I’m thinking about my kids and their generation.
I look back on my own education. I remember so vividly when I first came to the Capitol when I was younger. I remember very vividly when I was in grade school and we participated in mock elections and it really sparked that interest.
And it’s not just me. I see it every day. All my colleagues here at the Capitol see this every day, as we have school trips out here, as we meet and engage young people in our community as they’re coming through and having these different opportunities to have that hands-on experience. I find that it’s often the type of education that sticks with people and lingers the most.
Our democracy is inherently about participation. It’s not about just reading books and building up that knowledge. It’s meant to get us to do this in a community of citizens and to engage more broadly.
I think it’s a really important tool, and one that brings so much of this to life and gives people a sense that this is more than just about learning the mechanisms. For me, I’m a son of immigrants, a public school kid that’s now a United States senator. How did I believe that I could participate in this democracy at this level? So much of that starts by creating that muscle memory early on.
I know it’ll be difficult, but it’s still necessary and important in my mind.
I often have this line that I say: ‘If I’m only having comfortable conversations in politics, it means I’m not talking to all the people I need to be talking to.’ This is a perfect example of a conversation that is necessary, and even though it’ll be difficult, I think it’s important. That’s why I structured this to be a bipartisan, bicameral commission that is engaged in this effort. It’s meant to be one that people see as nonpartisan, and to look at a way where we bring in not just the education side, but this broader whole-government effort. What sets it apart is that we bring in the National Archives, the Smithsonian, to be able to contribute their ideas and their thinking.
I go in with my eyes wide open about the political climate and the challenges, but when I’m back home in New Jersey—somebody who was a Democrat that won a congressional district that Trump won—I have worked hard to try to see where the intersections are of the Venn diagrams of America. Everybody at home is talking about how we need to increase civics education.
I don’t think a single person I’ve ever talked to thinks that we’re doing just fine as a country when it comes to knowledge of our own history, as well as how our government works. We’re at an all-time low right now. We live in the time of the greatest amount of distrust in government in modern American history. In a survey, only 17% of Americans said that they had trust in our government. When you look more broadly at civics, there was a survey last year that said that 58% of adults failed a basic civics test.
I hope that that is not a partisan issue, and that especially on the 250th anniversary of our country, that this is about just trying to reignite that common mission that brought our country together at the dawn of our republic. They had a lot of differences then about how our country should operate, and how our country should be structured. If they could find agreement under such extraordinary circumstances, surely we can come together and create a bipartisan, bicameral commission to try and find that way forward. It’s the least we could do.
Are there specific civic education practices or or education goals that you think everybody across the aisle should be able to get behind?
I often think through: What is it that we want to instill about the roles and responsibilities of a citizen, not just on Election Day, but every day?
I don’t necessarily want to get ahead of things, because I really do want a process to unfold. I certainly have some of my own thoughts, but that is not the point of this legislation. The legislation is to bring together the experts, bring together people from both parties.
But I hope that we can all share in the goal, which is about raising that baseline of knowledge in our country.
You mentioned bipartisan support for civics education writ large. We’ve seen that in the past with the Civics Secures Democracy Act, which had bipartisan support a few years ago, though it didn’t pass. We’ve seen it in some state houses across the country. Are you seeking bipartisan support for this legislation that you’ve introduced?
I’m having conversations with my colleagues right now, and I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to have bipartisan support for this legislation. It was designed to implement bipartisanship, and I would really prioritize trying to ensure that we can, so that’s certainly what I’m going to try to do.
Another part of your proposals would boost funding for the American History and Civics grants. This program has seen a turbulent couple of months. Do you think that we’re going to continue to see this be a funding priority for this administration?
I’m hopeful that it is. As I’ve been talking to some of my colleagues, looking at the different tools that are at our disposal—across the appropriations, we saw many examples of where Congress was able to come together in a bipartisan way and push forward on funding for government priorities, even if that lacked the support of the president in his budget. I’m hopeful that this is a place where we can continue that funding. In the grand scheme of things, [it’s] not a huge amount of investment.
The more that we create this national dialogue about the importance of civics education, I think that it’ll snowball. We haven’t had this kind of big civics push nationally in quite some time, and I think the 250th anniversary is a perfect place for it, which is why I wanted to get this out as quickly as I could, so that we can use this year to generate interest.
The main thing that I want to focus on is trying to ensure a bipartisan approach to this. That’s really at the crux.
At a time when only 17% of people in this country trust our government—you flip to the other side, we’re talking about 83% of Americans that distrust our government right now. That’s such a devastating number. That should be an indictment of our current process, and something that people in both parties, across the political spectrum, should be deeply concerned about. Any solution to this issue of restoring trust, needs to come from that bipartisan and nonpartisan approach. If it even comes across and looks like it’s being set up in a partisan way or without the intention of doing something together, it’s not going to pass the smell test of trust from the American people.
That’s what my concerns were about some of what I’ve seen, and why it is that my approach has been intentionally pushed towards this effort to come together, and have some of these tough conversations, and hopefully be able to work our way out.
