The U.S. Department of Education announced that it will work with numerous rightwing groups to design a civics curriculum. It will, of course, be patriotic. It will also be illegal. Since 1970, federal law prohibits any federal official from being involved in curriculum in any way.
The law is clear. Federal officials are prohibited from seeking to influence or direct curriculum in any way.
The federal law is the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232a.
This section says:
“No provision of any applicable program shall be construed to authorize any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system…”
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon probably doesn’t know that she is breaking the law. Why doesn’t the legal staff at of ED warn her?
Justine McDaniel and Laura Meckler of The Washington Post reported:
The Education Department said Wednesday that it is partnering with conservative organizations to present educational programming about patriotism, liberty and what it described as American values, as part of the observation of America’s 250th anniversary next year.
The initiative is led by the America First Policy Institute, a right-leaning group founded by senior veterans of President Donald Trump’s first-term administration. It convened 40 other conservative organizations on Wednesday, including Turning Point USA, Hillsdale College, the Heritage Foundation and Moms for Liberty, to begin planning. Christian evangelical groups, such as the Faith and Freedom Coalition, are also participating.
Called the America 250 Civics Education Coalition, the initiative was billed by the Education Department as an effort to renew patriotism and advance “a shared understanding of America’s founding principles in schools across the nation.”
The department provided few details about what the programming would entail and how it would reach students or schools. The coalition appears to mark another step in the Trump administration’s effort to push a rosy narrative about American history and to use education about civics, a traditionally nonpartisan topic, as a vehicle for that mission.
“We are proud to announce this coalition to ensure every young American understands the beauty of our nation and is equipped with the civic knowledge required to contribute meaningfully to its future,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon, a former chair of the board at the America First Policy Institute, said in a statement.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Wait, you mean the Department of Education right-wingers don’t believe should exist?
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Linda McMahon said that Trump’s purpose is to promote “a shared understanding of America’s founding principles…”
That’s obviously a lie. Because you can just bet that THIS will NOT be part of the MAGA civics curriculum, though it ought to be a center piece:
https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/nation/2021/01/07/front-pages-capture-chaos-riots-us-capitol/6577931002/
As I’ve noted here and elsewhere before, The American Revolution was a liberal movement catalyzed by freedom of political participation, equality of opportunity and equal justice under the law, and – importantly – promoting the public good.
The Founders envisioned a democratic society “in which the common good was the chief end of government.”
They agreed with John Locke’s view that the main purpose of government –– the main reason people create government –– is to protect their persons through –– as historian R. Freeman Butts put it –– a social contract that placed “the public good above private desires.” The goal was “a commonwealth, a democratic corporate society in which the common good was the chief end of government.”
Trump, Republicans and the MAGA horde DO NOT BELIEVE in any of that. None. Zero. Nada.
They can and should be called what they are: fascists.
As The Guardian reported this morning,
“Politicians, media figures and free speech organisations expressed anger and alarm at the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show, warning that critics of Donald Trump were being systematically silenced…on Wednesday, the chair of the US media regulator, Brendan Carr, who was appointed by Trump, appeared on a rightwing podcast and threatened broadcasters’ licenses…Efforts to track down, intimidate and harass people perceived not to have sufficiently mourned the killing of the Kirk were endorsed on Monday by JD Vance.”
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/sep/18/jimmy-kimmel-suspension-sparks-shock-fears-for-free-speech-censoring-realtime
“being systematically silenced…”
This is who they are.
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Trump said in his inaugural Address that he would protect free speech and end government censorship.
Proving the adage that he lies whenever he speaks.
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The rule of law is flagrantly violated under this administration where illegal executive orders routinely bypass Congressional responsibility. The president continuously overreaches his authority, and the Supreme Court enables his lawless behavior by not holding him accountability for his actions.
Tim Walz was recently on Jen Psaki’s show where he discussed the president’s ever expanding powers, and he asked. “Where are the don’t tread on me people?”
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cx: accountable
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What is happening today under the Trump administration is exactly what happened in the 1920s & 1930s in Germany. The administration under Hitler did the same. Broke the laws. The general population did not stand up and fight back. It seems that the citizens of the United States are He## bent on having a dictator for a leader in the White House. It is clear that the Republicans in the US House and Senate have come to accept this fate and are doing nothing to stop it.
The next step is to kill freedom of speech that is guaranteed by the First Amendment. Trump and his thugs are well on the way to making the death of free speech something that is lost in the history to never be seen or heard again in Trump and possibly those that follow him when he is actually gone from our lives.
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The silence of the Republicans is deafening.
Why? Do they expect to be powerful once Trump has established his Reich? He owns the Supreme Court, Congress, and every “nonpartisan,” “independent” agency.
People are snatched off the streets by masked men, not in uniform, no arrest warrant, no explanation. Disappeared.
Join any protest you can. Speak out. Do not obey in advance.
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Re “Secretary of Education Linda McMahon probably doesn’t know that she is breaking the law. Why doesn’t the legal staff at of ED warn her?”
I think they were laid off by DOGE. :o)
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I think I will refrain from commenting. This is all too depressing.
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Other federal laws reinforce the 1970 law cited, using similar words. ESSA Section 8526A (20 U.S.C. § 7906a) prohibits federal officers from mandating, directing, or controlling a state’s or local educational agency’s instructional content, academic standards, assessments, or curriculum. Section 8526B (20 U.S.C. § 7907) prevents federal entities from mandating or incentivizing the adoption of particular standards, such as the Common Core State Standards, or any other specific content. And the DOEA (Department of Education Organization Act) Section 103(b) (20 U.S.C. § 3403(b)) explicitly forbids the Sec’y of Ed or any other dept’l officer from exercising supervision or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, or administration of any educational institution.
DofEd seems to be aware: further down in the WaPo article “Madi Biedermann, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, said the initiative is not meant to provide material for classrooms but rather community-based programming.”
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Ginny,
Thanks for your good research.
I consider this civics thing to be illegal because the Secretary is “influencing” curriculum.
The fact that a Dept spokeswoman says she’s not doing that is just smoke. She is.
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Agree, Diane. When I read that CYA statement, my thoughts turned immediately to ways we would be seeing DofEd do end-runs around these laws to get their civics curriculum into the classroom.
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I’m really scared. It took me years to get myself to understand the full history of our country. All the ugly parts included. I’ve read banned books relating to the LGTBQ+ community, people of color, and Native Americans.
Public schools didn’t teach the full history of America while I was in school and I was able to understand the brutal parts of history when I went to college and how white washed my High School Teaching was.
How do we respond to this since it has very little media attention? I already wrote to my State Attorney General and she has yet to respond. How do we stop this proposed right-wing propaganda in its tracks? What do we need to do?
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Join organizations that fight book bans.
The ACLU.
The American Library Association.
These were the first two I thought of.
There are many others.
See if you can organize a like minded group in your community to fight censorship.
There’s a new book “Teach Truth” by Jesse Hagopian about censoring history. Read it.
To be sure I wasn’t overlooking others, I asked ChatGPT:
Here are some of the most prominent:
American Library Association (ALA)
• Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF): The leading national advocate for the freedom to read.
• Tracks book challenges and publishes the annual “Top 10 Most Challenged Books” list.
• Provides resources to librarians and communities to resist censorship.
PEN America
• A nonprofit defending freedom of expression worldwide.
• Actively monitors book bans in U.S. schools, publishes reports, and offers toolkits for fighting censorship.
National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC)
• A coalition of over 50 national organizations.
• Provides legal, strategic, and advocacy support to teachers, librarians, parents, and students.
Authors Guild
• Represents authors and fights against book bans and other threats to writers’ rights.
EveryLibrary
• A political action committee for libraries.
• Supports ballot initiatives and campaigns against censorship in local communities.
Freedom to Read Foundation
• A nonprofit affiliated with ALA.
• Focuses on legal defense of First Amendment rights related to libraries and reading.
We Need Diverse Books (WNDB)
• Advocates for diversity in children’s and YA literature.
• Opposes bans that disproportionately target books by and about marginalized communities.
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF)
• Defends the First Amendment rights of comic book readers, retailers, and creators.
• Actively opposes bans of graphic novels in schools and libraries.
Unite Against Book Bans
• A national campaign launched by ALA in 2022.
• Mobilizes readers, parents, and educators to speak out against censorship.
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