[House Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
ACADEMIC FREEDOM UNDER ATTACK:
LOOSENING THE CCP'S GRIP ON
AMERICA'S CLASSROOMS
=======================================================================
HEARING
Before The
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD,
ELEMENTARY, SECONDARY EDUCATION
of the
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE
WORKFORCE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, SEPTEMBER 19, 2023
__________
Serial No. 118-22
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and the Workforce
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via: edworkforce.house.gov or www.govinfo.gov
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
55-781 PDF WASHINGTON : 2024
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE
VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina, Chairwoman
JOE WILSON, South Carolina ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia,
GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania Ranking Member
TIM WALBERG, Michigan RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona
GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut
ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN,
RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia Northern Mariana Islands
JIM BANKS, Indiana FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida
JAMES COMER, Kentucky SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon
LLOYD SMUCKER, Pennsylvania MARK TAKANO, California
BURGESS OWENS, Utah ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina
BOB GOOD, Virginia MARK DeSAULNIER, California
LISA McCLAIN, Michigan DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey
MARY MILLER, Illinois PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington
MICHELLE STEEL, California SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania
RON ESTES, Kansas LUCY McBATH, Georgia
JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut
KEVIN KILEY, California ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota
AARON BEAN, Florida HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan
ERIC BURLISON, Missouri TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico
NATHANIEL MORAN, Texas KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina
JOHN JAMES, Michigan FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana
LORI CHAVEZ-DeREMER, Oregon JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York
BRANDON WILLIAMS, New York
ERIN HOUCHIN, Indiana
Cyrus Artz, Staff Director
Veronique Pluviose, Minority Staff Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY, AND
SECONDARY EDUCATION
AARON BEAN, Florida, Chairman
GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon,
BURGESS OWENS, Utah Ranking Member
LISA McCLAIN, Michigan RAUL GRIJALVA, Arizona
MARY MILLER, Illinois GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN,
MICHELLE STEEL, California Northern Mariana Islands
KEVIN KILEY, California JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut
NATHANIEL MORAN, Texas JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York
BRANDON WILLIAMS, New York FREDERICA WILSON, Florida
VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina MARK DeSAULNIER, California
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on September 19, 2023............................... 1
OPENING STATEMENTS
Bean, Hon. Aaron, Chairman, Subcommittee on Early Childhood,
Elementary, and Secondary Education........................ 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 4
Scott, Hon. Robert C. ``Bobby'', Ranking Member, Committee on
Education and the Workforce................................ 6
Prepared statement of.................................... 7
WITNESSES
Gonzalez, Micheal, Senior Fellow, The Heritage Foundation.... 105
Prepared statement of.................................... 108
Kusakawa, Gisela P., Executive Director, Asian American
Scholar Forum (AASF)....................................... 114
Prepared statement of.................................... 116
Neily, Nicole, President, Parents Defending Education........ 120
Prepared statement of.................................... 123
Walters, Ryan, State Superintendent of Public Instruction,
Oklahoma State Department of Education..................... 129
Prepared statement of.................................... 131
ADDITIONAL SUBMISSIONS
Ranking Member Scott:
Staff Report from the United States Senate............... 9
Steel, Hon. Michelle, a Representative in Congress from the
State of California:
H.R. 1146 Resolution from the Orange County Board of
Education.............................................. 140
ACADEMIC FREEDOM UNDER ATTACK:
LOOSENING THE CCP'S GRIP ON
AMERICA'S CLASSROOMS
----------
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and
Secondary Education,
Committee on Education and the Workforce,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:16, a.m.,
2175 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Aaron Bean [Chairman
of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Bean, Thompson, Owens, McClain,
Miller, Steel, Williams, Foxx, Bonamici, Grijalva, DeSaulnier,
Norcross, and Scott.
Also present: Walberg
Staff present: Cyrus Artz, Staff Director; Mindy Barry,
General Counsel; Isabel Foster, Press Assistant; Daniel
Fuenzalida, Staff Assistant; Sheila Havenner, Director of
Information Technology, Paxton Henderson, Intern, Amy Raaf
Jones, Director of Education and Human Services Policy; Georgie
Littlefair, Hannah Matesic, Director of Member Services and
Coalitions; Audra McGeorge, Communications Director; Eli
Mitchell, Legislative Assistant; Rebecca Powell, Staff
Assistant; Brad Thomas, Senior Education Policy Advisor; Maura
Williams, Director of Operations; Ilana Brunner, Minority
General Counsel; Rashage Green, Minority Director of Education
Policy; Christian Haines, Minority General Counsel; Emma T.
Johnson, Minority Legal Intern; Stephanie Lalle, Minority
Communications Director; Raiyana Malone, Minority Press
Secretary; Shyann McDonald, Minority Staff Assistant; Kota
Mizutani, Minority Deputy Communications Director; Veronique
Pluviose, Minority Staff Director; Banyon Vassar, Minority IT
Administrator.
Chairman Bean. Can I have your attention please? Good
morning, and welcome to Washington, DC, the U.S. House of
Representatives, and the Committee on Education and the
Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood Elementary and
Secondary Education.
The Committee will come to order. A quorum is present.
Without objection, the Chair is authorized to call a recess at
any time. The Subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony
to examine the covert influence of foreign governments and
organizations, including the Chinese Communist Party on the
United States K through 12 schools.
I am Aaron Bean. I am going to be your host and Chair of
the Committee as we embark on a journey of fact finding and to
figure out just what the heck is going on. Our hearing today is
entitled the Academic Freedom Under Attack: Loosening the CCP
Grip on America's Classrooms.
The CCP influence is rampant in America's classrooms. We
will talk about that today, over 500 K through 12 schools
across the United States have allowed the CCP to establish
itself in their halls under the guise of Confucius classrooms,
but when you pull back the curtain on these cultural exchange
centers, you find a CCP backed agenda that undermines the
principles upon which our education system is built.
The risk posed by the proliferation of Communist Confucius
classrooms is threefold, threatening America's national,
geopolitical, and academic interests. One of the most alarming
threats is to our national security. A recent report revealed
that numerous Confucius classrooms are strategically located
around U.S. military bases.
Moreover, it uncovered that elite American secondary
schools like Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and
Technology, are partnering with Chinese military schools
supervised by the Chinese defense industry, like Tsinghua
University, to develop academic programming.
These ties raise serious concerns about the safety and
security of military children and secrets. The CCP's presence
near our bases can be seen as a direct attempt to target and
influence these vulnerable populations, potentially
compromising our national security in the process.
Furthermore, Confucius classrooms pose a significant
geopolitical risk. They are explicitly organized by the CCP
politburo to project soft power on American students. This
strategy is straight out of the Soviet playbook. In 1960, the
USSR established the People's Friendship University as a
cultural and literary exchange program to indoctrinate students
in developing countries like Africa, Asia, and Latin America,
with notably alumni including Marxist revolutionaries and world
leaders.
This blatant attempt to inject foreign ideologies into our
schools undermines the fundamental purpose of American
education. It goes without saying we should be teaching
American values in American schools, which leads to my third
point.
Confucius classrooms risk our academic security. Every
dollar that flows into American classrooms from the CCP comes
with strings attached, and the most important string is the
requirement that instructors censor themselves to appease
Beijing. It would be remarkable to even hear four words in a
Confucius classroom--Tibet, Taiwan, Tiananmen Square.
This censorship stifles academic freedom, which is the
cornerstone of our educational system. Academic freedom
encourages open dialog, the free exchange of ideas and the
pursuit of knowledge without fear of reprisal. Confucius
classrooms, however, undermine these principles by fostering an
environment where educators are pressured to align themselves
with the CCP agenda, stifling critical thinking and true
intellectual exploration.
We must recognize the consequences of this infiltration
that will harm our generations to come. Our children deserve an
education that empowers them to think critically, develop their
own perspectives, and become informed and engaged citizens,
allowing CCP propaganda to infiltrate our schools robs children
of this opportunity.
The danger of Confucius classrooms in America K through 12
schools cannot be overstated. They threatened our national
security, compromise our geopolitical interests, and erode our
academic freedom. Today the Committee is taking a stand against
CCP influence, and we will continue to work tirelessly to
safeguard our educational institutions from foreign influence.
It is our duty to protect our kids, and our children's
future by preserving the integrity of American education. On a
final note, the Committee supports teaching Chinese language,
history and culture. China has a rich culture that our students
should learn about.
We support the Chinese people, who have been horribly
oppressed by their government. What we do not support is the
CCP indoctrination and the rewriting of history. With that, I
yield for the Ranking Member for an opening statement, Mr.
Scott.
[The Statement of Chairman Bean follows:]
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Mr. Scott. Thank you, Chairman Bean, and thank you in
advance to our witnesses for your testimony today. Once again,
the Committee republicans are holding a hearing on a topic that
will only further their extreme agenda, inject divisive
partisan politics into our children's classrooms.
We are actually nearly 11 days from a potential government
shutdown, and here we are unconcerned about the impact of a
shutdown on our economy. We are also facing a childcare cliff
at the end of this month. House republicans proposed a
solution, the proposed solution is an array of devastating cuts
to the Federal funding that fuels our children's education.
According to my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee,
proposed cuts to Labor HHS appropriations would eliminate
access to early childhood education for over 50,000 children
through cuts in Head Start, potentially remove over 200,000
teachers from classrooms serving low-income students through
cuts in Title I, and wipe out Federal support for vital
academic programs that support over 5 million English learners.
Rather than finding ways to help families keep a roof over
their heads, put food on the table, find affordable, quality
childcare, the majority would rather take the Committee's time
promoting conspiracy theories and dubious research.
By contrast, just last week congressional democrats
introduced the Childcare Stabilization Act to address a
potential childcare crisis and preserve vital childcare funding
expiring at the end of this month. The bill would keep
thousands of childcare providers afloat, save childcare slots
for millions of children, and help ensure access to quality,
affordable childcare for working families.
It is my hope that colleagues across the aisle will help us
save the childcare sector from potential collapse. Furthermore,
I am concerned the majority thought it appropriate to hold a
congressional hearing on unsubstantiated reports, which is paid
for by a group that the Southern Poverty Law Center has
designated as an extremist organization. Dr. Foxx and I have
always prided ourselves in the fact that we can disagree
without being disagreeable, but this report and the allegations
in it have already been debunked by a 2019 Senate investigation
hearing and report, and this hearing gives it credibility it
does not deserve. I ask unanimous consent to insert that report
into the record.
Chairman Bean. Without objection.
[The Statement of Ranking Member Scott follows:]
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[The information of Mr. Scott follows:]
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Mr. Scott. We can provide students with an inclusive,
accurate and well-funded education without conspiracy theories
that fuel anti-Asian discrimination, rather we should encourage
students to discover other languages and cultures, and
encourage schools to create safe and inviting educational
environments.
The better use of our time today if members focus on
funding the government, improving school infrastructure,
closing academic achievement gaps, and confronting other
serious challenges facing children, educators, and families. I
hope we can have a productive and respectful discussion today.
I thank the witnesses for their time, and I yield back.
Chairman Bean. I thank you very much Mr. Scott, and good
morning to you, and good morning to our witnesses. Pursuant to
Rule, Committee Rule 8-C, all Committee members who wish to
insert written statements into the record may do so by
submitting them to the Committee Clerk electronically in
Microsoft Word format by 5 p.m. after 14 days from the start of
this hearing, which is October 3, 2023.
Without objection, the hearing record will remain open for
14 days after the day of this hearing to allow such statements,
and other material referenced during the hearing to be
submitted for the hearing record. With that, members, let us
get to our all-star panel.
For the first introduction I will yield time to the
gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Walberg.
Mr. Walberg. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, thank you as well for
letting me waive on this important Subcommittee, and to give me
the opportunity to introduce Mr. Mike Gonzalez, the Angeles T.
Arredondo E Pluribus Unum Senior Fellow at the Heritage
Foundation where he writes on multiculturism, simulation,
nationalism, and foreign policy.
He spent nearly 20 years as a journalist, 15 of them
reporting from Europe, Asia, and Latin America. He left
journalism to join the administration of George W. Bush, where
he was speech writer for Securities and Exchange Commission,
Chairman Chris Cox, before moving onto the State Department's
European Bureau.
Mr. Gonzalez holds a bachelor's degree in communication
from Boston's Emerson College, and a master's in business
administration from Columbia Business School. We welcome you.
Chairman Bean. Mr. Gonzalez, welcome, and to our panelists
we are about to turn the clock on, and you have got 5 minutes,
how about that, so we all get 5 minutes, as I mentioned to you
earlier, so enjoy, welcome, we are glad to have you here, and
you are recognized for 5 minutes, Mr. Gonzalez.
STATEMENT OF MR. MICHAEL GONZALEZ, SENIOR FELLOW,
HERITAGE FOUNDATION, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Mr. Gonzalez. Thank you for inviting me. My name is Mike
Gonzalez. I am the Angeles T. Arredondo E Pluribus Unum Senior
Fellow at the Heritage Foundation. The views I express are my
own. It should not be construed as representing any official
position of the Heritage Foundation.
As you said, I lived in Asia as a journalist for a decade,
spending my last 2 years in Hong Kong, as editor of the Wall
Street Journal's Asian editorial page from where I directed
coverage of Asian issues, including the People's Republic of
China and the Chinese Communist Party.
I am also proudly on the Advisory Board of Parents
Defending Education, whose July study, Little Red Classrooms,
has led to this hearing. The classrooms in question referred to
the Confucius classrooms, which are the K through 12 school
equivalents of Confucius Institutes.
The institutes are PRC sponsored centers set up at
universities around the world. They teach Mandarin and Chinese
culture, but also fund China research. In the words of a
comprehensive Heritage study released in March, the institutes
and the classrooms give CCP agents a foothold in the U.S.
In exchange for money, the schools self-censor, but the
reality of the PRC and the CCP, and allow the spread of PRC
propaganda. In 2015, I authored one of the earliest papers of
the institutes, one of the recommendations was for the Congress
to explore, ``Whether the PRC's efforts to influence America
through academic and Hollywood, represent an attempt by a
foreign government to manipulate a democratic population.''
Eight years later, this question remains at the heart of
the issues facing this Committee. Last week I spoke to Ian
Oxnevad, a researcher at the National Association of Scholars
who is currently writing a study on all these issues. He told
me there are a lot more Confucius classrooms than institutes.
Once again, the classrooms are K through 12, the institutes are
in colleges and universities.
A 2019 Senate report said that there are 519 Confucius
classrooms operating in the United States. Oxnevad estimates
that there are still around 500 classrooms in our country. Just
because they are not ``Confucius classrooms,'' does not mean
they are not, he told me. They are basically a turnkey program
for Mandarin that is all expenses paid.
By whom you may ask. By the CCP. Most of the institutes and
classrooms were supposed to have been closed. In March 2021,
the U.S. Senate voted to prohibit funding for universities that
hosted the institutes, unless the contracts had clear
provisions that protected academic freedom. The absence of
transparency has been a big part of this problem.
Of 111 institutes that have closed, or are in the process
of closing, at least 28 have been replaced by similar programs,
and at least 58 have maintained close relationships with their
former Confucius Institute partner. This duplicity reinforced
my view that our government must ban all the institutes and
classrooms.
We must end all collaborations between U.S. institutions
and Chinese entities affiliated with China's Ministry of State
Security or other security and intelligence agencies. A foreign
Communist party cannot dictate what our children learn. The
United States is an open society that enjoys the free exchange
of ideas, whose people form opinions, and then vote
accordingly.
China is none of those things. It is a Communist
dictatorship with the CCP and retains a monopoly on power. Our
two nations face therefore asymmetric informational warfare.
China's influence on our schools is aimed at presenting the
students a version of the PRC that does not accord with
reality.
China seeks to be seen as a normal country, say democratic
Chili or Portugal, but China is an important country, with many
contributions to civilization, but China is not a normal
country. All of China's 1.4 billion people have their liberties
extremely restricted.
China's most famous political prisoner is a publisher by
the name of Jimmy Lai, who today at the age of 75 languishes in
solitary confinement in a Hong Kong prison on trumped up
violation of China's draconian national security law. On the
26th of this month, Mr. Lai will mark 1,000 days in prison. Now
I know Jimmy Lai. He is a friend of mine. I can tell the
Members of Congress and the American people that Mr. Lai is a
tireless fighter for liberty, one who we must never forget.
Xi Jin Ping put him in prison for speaking truth to power.
The Confucius Institutes and the classrooms concealed this
sordid record by restricting debate on Taiwan, Tibet, Tiananmen
Square, the suffering of Jimmy Lai, and many, many other
things. You are political leaders, have the responsibility of
stopping this gross interference on how the youngest amongst us
learn about what is likely to be our main adversary for the
21st Century.
Thank you very much for your time and attention.
[The Statement of Mr. Gonzalez follows:]
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Chairman Bean. Mr. Gonzalez, thank you so much and coming
before us. Let us introduce the rest of our panel, and then we
will hear from each and every one of you. Our second witness is
Ms. Gisela Perez Kusakawa, who is the Executive Director--
okay--good, very good.
Ms. Kusakawa is the Executive Director of the Asian
American Scholar Forum, which is in New York, New York. She
serves on multiple nonprofit boards, including the Asian
Pacific American Bar Association Education Fund, the Conference
on Asian Pacific American Leadership, the National Filipino
American Lawyers Association, and the Filipino American Lawyers
Association of Washington, DC.
She has experience in multiple countries, as a former
Rotary Scholars, and then teacher in Japan, studying Mandarin
in Beijing, conducting research on IT development in the Czech
Republic and promoting business and job development in the
rural villages of the Philippines. Please welcome, and we are
going to come right back to you as we introduce the rest of the
panel, but we welcome you. I am glad to have you here.
Our next panelist will be introduced by our own
Representative Mary Miller.
Ms. Miller. Our third witness is Ms. Nicole Neily, who is
President and Founder of Parents Defending Education, a
nonpartisan, nonprofit national organization giving parents the
resources and support they need to advocate for their
children's education. Thank you so much.
Prior to launching Parents Defending Education, Ms. Neily
created Speech First, a nationwide membership organization that
defends college students free speech rights, through litigation
and other means. Ms. Neily has also worked as President of the
Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, a State
level investigative journalism organization, as Executive
Director and Senior Fellow at the Independent Women's Forum,
and at the Cato Institute, where she created their Department
of Eternal Relations.
Ms. Neily holds a bachelor's degree in political science
from the University of Illinois, and a Master of Public Policy
from Pepperdine University School of Public Policy. Welcome,
thank you.
Chairman Bean. Welcome. Our final witness will be
introduced by Michelle Steel, Representative Steel you are
recognized.
Ms. Steel. Our last witness is Mr. Ryan Walters, who is the
State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Oklahoma
State Department of Education. Is located in Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma. Previously, Mr. Walters taught for 8 years as a
history teacher at his hometown, McAllister High School.
During his time at MHS, Walters taught advanced placement
courses in World History, USC history, and U.S. Government. The
Oklahoma State Department of Education named Mr. Walters as an
Oklahoma Teacher of the Year finalist in 2016.
Additionally, Mr. Walters also serves as Executive Director
of Every Kid Counts Oklahoma. Mr. Walters earned a bachelor's
degree from Harding University. Welcome.
Chairman Bean. Welcome Mr. Walters, and now up is Ms.
Kusakawa. We are glad to have you here, and you are recognized
for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF MS. GISELA PEREZ KUSAKAWA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
ASIAN AMERICAN SCHOLAR FORUM (AASF) NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Ms. Kusakawa. Thank you so much Chair Bean, Ranking Member
Bobby Scott, and Ranking Member Bonamici, and members of the
Subcommittee, especially for the kind introductions, and for
allowing me to provide testimony today.
As we take on U.S. China tensions, it is important to
recognize that the Asian American community has a long history
as being treated as perpetual foreigners. Seen as perpetual
foreigners, we too often are perceived as outsiders, and make
for convenience scapegoats as economic or national security
threats.
Therefore, it becomes essential that we do not allow U.S.
tensions with a foreign Asian country to translate into an
overreaction by the Federal Government, or within our education
system, that leads to negative impacts for the Asian American
community.
We have seen the tragedy that can happen when we do not
exercise caution and consider the Asian American experience.
More than 80 years ago, over 120,000 U.S. residents of Japanese
ancestry were incarcerated in remote detention camps in the
name of national security under the rationale that any people
of Japanese descent are somehow more prone to committing acts
of sabotage or espionage.
Congress eventually acknowledged that these actions were
motivated largely by racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a
feeling of political leadership. Decades after the systemic
incarceration of Japanese Americans, we find ourselves
repeating history. It has become a harmful pattern that when
the United States has tensions with a nation country, Asian
Americans and immigrants face the backlash at home, and become
collateral damage.
Perceived as not American, we too often are blamed for the
actions of a foreign government, or entity, face heightened
scrutiny, and are subjected to questioning about our loyalty.
The consequences of being perceived as perpetually foreign can
often lead to fatal consequences. This was the case for Vincent
Chen, a Chinese American who was murdered in 1982 by two white
men who mistook him as Japanese at a time when U.S. Japan
tensions were high due to economic competition.
Like all too many before him, Vincent was treated as a
scapegoat, and blamed for the problems that the American auto
industry face in competition with Japan. In this modern age,
Asian Americans are still made for convenient scapegoats,
experiencing both years of anti-Asian hate and violence within
their own neighborhoods and homes, also heightened scrutiny
from their places of learning, or employment, or by their own
government. We have seen in the past decade how U.S. Government
officials have fueled the anti-Asian bigotry through xenophobic
and anti-China rhetoric and policymaking.
As a result, alarmingly, one in five Americans believe
Asian Americans are partly responsible for COVID-19, and one in
three Americans believe that Asian Americans are more loyal to
countries other than the United States. Asian Americans such as
Professor Xiaoxing Xi, Sherry Chen, and Anming Hu have found
themselves subjected to heightened scrutiny, and their lives
upended along with many other scholars.
This intensified under the Department of Justice's ``China
Initiative'', and the decision by the Administration to end the
initiative was a welcome step toward healing for our
communities, but we still have a long way to go in addressing
how racial bias can permeate our society, Federal Government
and our academic institutions.
An annual survey revealed that one in two Asian Americans
did not feel safe due to their race and ethnicity, and 80
percent do not feel that they belong with young and female
Asian Americans, feeling the least like they belong. Of those
surveyed, 47 percent attribute the violence that Asian
Americans face based on the blame that they receive for Chinese
government spying.
Moreover, we have seen that Stop API Hate has received 341
reports of anti-Asian discrimination involving the youth, with
over half of the incidents involving anti-Chinese language. We
need to do better for the Asian American community, and our
youth. While China's government does pose genuine threats, I
ask that we look toward real solutions, and nuanced responses
to prevent broad, sweeping impacts that make Asian Americans
and our youth collateral damage. Thank you so much.
[The Statement of Ms. Kusakawa follows:]
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Chairman Bean. Thank you very much Ms. Kusakawa, thank you
very much. Next is Ms. Neily. Ms. Neily, welcome to the
Committee, and you are recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF MS. NICOLE NEILY, PRESIDENT, PARENTS
DEFENDING EDUCATION (PDE), ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
Ms. Neily. Chairman Bean, Ranking Member Bonamici, and
distinguished members of the Subcommittee, thank you for
inviting me. My name is Nicole Neily, and I am the President of
Parents Defending Education.
We began researching foreign funding in K to 12 schools in
March, when a parent at Virginia's Thomas Jefferson High School
for Science and Technology provided a record showing that the
school received over a million dollars from Chinese government
linked entities.
A few weeks ago, a Fairfax County school revealed these
donations actually totaled 3.6 million dollars. A former PTA
board member told us that in exchange for these gifts a donor
was allowed to, ``Look under the hood to see how a school was
run,'' including floor plans, lesson plans and student research
projects.
We wondered was this happening elsewhere. If so, where?
Unfortunately, trying to nail down the scope of this problem is
difficult by design. These programs have existed in American
schools for years, but much of them went underground following
Secretary DeVos and Secretary Pompeo's efforts to reign in
Confucius Institutes.
We combed through publicly available data and filed dozens
of FOIAs across the country to access contracts on these
programs, and trace money flowing through intermediary
organizations such as the ASIS Society and the College Board
and Districts.
We found that over the past decade over 17 million dollars
has flowed through 143 district and private K to 12 schools in
34 states and D.C. This is likely a low figure, given that both
the U.S. State Department and Senate estimated hundreds more
programs in existence. This sum is only what we have been able
to verify. The money does not just flow from China to U.S.
schools. In some districts, they actually spent taxpayer money
on this programming.
Nevada Clark County schools paid over $250,000.00 in salary
and benefits to Chinese teachers. We learned that we need to
follow not only inflows, but also outflows. Aside from money,
also consider the teachers. Many districts use educators
provided by the People's Republic of China, but these teachers
are not neutral.
In March 2019, President Xi Jinping called on educators to
instill patriotism in the country's youth and reject wrong
ideas and ideology. Educators who expressed opinions about
Falun Gong, or criticized party leadership lose their jobs, so
remaining teachers are either true believers, or have been
cowed into silence.
A FOIA included names of teachers who visited in 2017, five
of the six were CCP members, with one receiving an award for
being an outstanding Communist. Another delegation several
months later featured a VIP guest, the party's Secretary from
Zhejiang Provincial Education Department. As employees, foreign
nationals are given access to district servers and student
information.
PDE's work identified 20 districts around the country,
located near military bases, and we believe that base
commanders deserve to know whether potentially hostile
foreigners may have access to data about the children of
military personnel.
Finally, there are curriculum concerns. Multiple contracts
reference books and curriculum being provided from Confucius
Institutes and partnering universities in China. A contract
from one California district stated that textbooks, reference
materials, and AV materials would be provided by Yunnan Normal
University, a school designated medium risk by the Australian
Strategic Policy Institute because of the university's research
on ethnic minorities and ties to the government's ethnic
affairs bureaucracy.
Parents and administrators do not know what curriculum is
being used in these classrooms and must defer to teachers who
are hand selected and vetted by the PRC. What might this look
like in practice? A 2017 documentary shows a student at the
University of Michigan singing at a Confucius Institute
concert, about how Chairman Mao nurtures the people on this
land, a slap in the face to the 40 million Chinese citizens who
died during the Mao created famine.
As parents, we deserve to know whether hostile nations are
pumping propaganda into our children's heads. Some parents may
wish to ask their school to hire a teacher from Taiwan instead,
while others might want their students to take a different
foreign language class. I am a mama wolverine, and I want my
son and daughter to be taught true history, about the Uyghur
genocide, one child policy, and the repression of dissidents
like Jimmy Lai, not the alleged virtues of Communism.
America needs greater transparency around foreign funding
in our schools. Families lack basic information, so they cannot
make informed choices about whether they want their children to
participate in these programs. As you said, this is a matter of
national security. Over the past year, it has become abundantly
clear that America has not fully appreciated the foreign
threats are not just overseas, they are also on our shores.
From farmland purchases to spy balloons, secret police
stations to battery factories, our country's openness is being
weaponized against us. In July we sent letters to Governors,
asking them to investigate this issue in their states.
Unfortunately, few seem to consider this an issue of concern.
We ask that you use your influence to communicate the acute
nature of this danger to politicians in your respective states.
Our other request is one of oversight. We believe that it
would be constructive use of the FBI's investigative power to
research China's influence in American education, both to
monitor programs still in existence, and determine the extent
of the damage that has been brought to date.
This might be a better use of the Bureau's finite resources
than investigating school board parents, a directive still in
force today because Attorney General Garland's October 2021
memo has never been rescinded. As Members of Congress, you
swore oaths to defend the Constitution against all enemies,
foreign and domestic.
I ask you today to uphold this oath in order to protect not
only our Constitution, but also our children. Thank you.
[The Statement of Ms. Neily follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Bean. Ms. Neily, thank you very much for coming,
and your testimony. Our final witness from Oklahoma, please
welcome Mr. Ryan Walters. Mr. Walters, welcome. You are
recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF MR. RYAN WALTERS, STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC
INSTRUCTION, OKLAHOMA STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, OKLAHOMA
CITY, OKLAHOMA
Mr. Walters. Thank you very much. Good morning, Chairman
Bean, and members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting
me to speak on the topic of foreign influence in K-12 schools.
This is oppressing and deeply concerning issue that has
ramifications far beyond the K-12 school system.
The head of the CCP Central Propaganda Department wrote in
2010 that the Chinese regime should, ``Actively carry out
international propaganda battles on core issues,'' and ``Do
well in establishing cultural sinners and Confucius
Institutes.''
The Chinese government actively set up schools, both in
higher education, and K-12, with the institution to spread
Communism, and undermine the United States. Knowing this, any
response in solutions should be bipartisan, and a non-
controversial issue. We must protect our kids and not allow a
hostile, foreign government to indoctrinate them.
I would like to thank Parents Defending Education for their
initial reporting, and bringing awareness to this issue of
foreign interference, specifically, the Chinese government in
our K-12 education system. Following the discovery that one of
our school districts in Oklahoma, Tulsa Public Schools, was
named in the report, my staff diligently conducted a further
investigation into the issue and discovered a disturbing
connection between the CCP and that school district.
Through a series of CCP affiliated nonprofits, that school
district maintains an active connection with the CCP through a
program called the Confucius Classrooms. Even after the Federal
Government crackdown on similar programs in 2020. The role of
the CCP plays in some of our K-12 schools is an issue that goes
far beyond the realm of education and has national security
implications.
Through programs such as Confucius Classrooms, we are
allowing a hostile, foreign, anti-democratic government a
foothold into our schools. As we saw the initial launch of
Confucius Institutes in the United States, when CCP associated
programs are present, there is a demonstrated track record of
infringements on academic freedom, and the whitewashing of
Chinese history.
As I am sure you know, conflicts today are fought on a very
different dimension than they were in years past. While we
might not take up conventional arms against China, and other
hostile foreign governments, there is still a deep underlying
conflict using the weapons of information, misinformation, and
propaganda.
It is hard enough to root out Chinese misinformation and
propaganda without providing them an influence inside of our
schools. The Trump administration had the common sense to stomp
out Chinese influence in higher ed, however it remains to be
seen if that common sense exists in the current administration.
The American public, as well as Oklahomans, are encouraged
that this Committee is recognizing that extreme danger and the
threat that it provides. I urge that Congress pass a law to ban
schools from accepting money from hostile foreign governments,
and to prohibit schools from entering into data sharing
agreements with hostile foreign governments.
At the State level, State education agencies should require
districts to report any foreign money they accept, and any
nonprofit money they accept. At our last State Board of
Education meeting, we passed this measure, and it will allow us
to conduct a more thorough investigation into foreign influence
into our schools and provide more transparency to Oklahoma
taxpayers.
The acceptance of the CCP into our K-12 education system is
a small part of the epidemic and the education policies of the
far left. The left's education policy's attempt to remove
parents from their child's education, while offering a seat at
the table for anyone who wants to promote anti-American
positions.
These policies undermine the Constitution and the American
way of life, and I cannot stress enough how urgent it is that
we take action to ensure our education system protects the
Constitution and American values. As a government and history
teacher, I have taught about these efforts for years. What we
see are tyrannical governments using education as a tool to
control the masses.
Hostile, foreign governments use their education system to
maintain the dangerous cult of personality that allows the
current regimes to stay in power. We see active disinformation
campaigns that are in place within these hostile governments,
but actively on U.S. soil also.
Misinformation and propaganda are dangerous tools in the
hands of authoritarian governments, and we will not allow these
tools to be used in American classrooms. We are not Communist
China.
In our classrooms we will teach true history, and we must
take an immediate action against hostile countries who attempt
to shroud the history in propaganda.
The role that people like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden have
played in vilifying parents while directly empowering hostile
foreign governments is shameful. While we have seen it in
higher ed, we are now seeing it in K-12, as we surrender
academic freedom and American values.
It is an honor to represent the people of Oklahoma here
today, to shine light on the undermining of our country. Thank
you for your time.
[The information of Mr. Walters follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Bean. Mr. Walters, thank you very much. For all of
our witnesses for coming in right as the clock ended, thank you
so much. We are now going to have a conversation, and the
conversation begins under Committee Rule 9, where we will have
questions under the 5-minute rule.
Put the clock on me because I am going to begin. Let us go
with Ms. Neily. Ms. Neily, what do you say that people say that
just having this discussion is racist, the Confucius classrooms
is just a cover for anti-Asian racism. How would you address
that?
Ms. Neily. My grandparents on my father's side met in an
internment camp. They met in Manzanar. I know what anti-Asian
racism looks like. My family has experienced it. This is not
it. Making ad hominem claims that this is a racist hearing is
intended to shut down this debate, and not engage on the
merits. This is a matter of foreign funding. The Chinese
government is an adversarial position against our country right
now.
Frankly, there are other countries that are also making
similar forays into our education system. We are not saying
that students should not have access to foreign language
programs, that is not what is happening whatsoever. We are
saying that parents deserve to know who is funding these
programs, so that they can decide whether they want their
children to participate at all.
Making sure what our children are learning is actually
accurate is important, and for that to be called racist I think
is appalling, and again is intended to shut down this
discussion altogether.
Chairman Bean. Thank you very much. Mr. Gonzalez, basically
the same question. What do you say when people say this is just
racist, the study of Chinese influence on classrooms. What do
you say to that, Mr. Gonzalez?
Mr. Gonzalez. Well thank you, Mr. Bean, Chairman Bean. I
have got to say that although I subscribe to almost everything
that Ms. Perez Kusakawa said, I am somewhat dumbfounded by the
idea that opposing a government that suppresses the rights of
1.4 billion Chinese people is racist. I do not see how these
two issues even relate to one another.
We have a real problem with the PRC. A dictatorial
Communist regime that produces fentanyl that's killed 70,000
Americans in 2021, that harasses our warplanes and our naval
vessels, that claims the China seas as its domain. It has
numerous violations of human rights. We have to make sure that
we--it behaves as an adversary, not as a competitor.
We have to make sure that this government does not
influence our very young, does not tell them, does not give a
vision of China through our schools or through Hollywood, or
through the MBA, or whatever that everything that is happening
in China is normal. We have to know this, so again, I agree
with Mrs. Perez Kusakawa, I do not see what it has to do with
the debate we are having.
Chairman Bean. Thank you, Mr. Gonzalez, and Mr. Walters,
for the same question. What say you to the charge of racism
that this discussion is just racism against Asian Americans?
Mr. Walters. You know, I completely reject that notion.
What we have here are two things. We are allowing a hostile,
foreign government that has been labeled as such by our
government agencies to influence and indoctrinate our kids. We
should be focused on teaching real history, having real
academic discussions in the classroom, not censorship and
indoctrination from a hostile foreign government.
Then there is the national security implications. We are
actively allowing a hostile foreign power, who has stated their
goal to propagandize American young people, and American
institutions, a foothold in order to do that. This is about a
foreign government pushing their influence, undermining
American power and American influence, and that is where I
think this discussion is.
Chairman Bean. Did it raise eyebrows, or were there
problems getting information from schools, and what they had
accepted from the Communist party in the State of Oklahoma?
Mr. Walters. Absolutely. This is a great example of
breaking the trust of the public. What we have here are these
affiliated CCP groups where the money flows into multiple of
these groups, which makes it very difficult for our State
agency, and for parents and taxpayers to see where is the money
going?
What are the exact expenditures of these programs, and
exactly what is the curriculum? Where is all of this coming
from? It is very intentional. Our team looked at it and said
this is tremendous, the efforts they are going to shield
exactly how the money is being spent.
Chairman Bean. Very good. Thank you so much. We only have a
brief moment left. Mr. Gonzalez, you mentioned Mr. Lai, can you
give a quick history of who Mr. Lai is in the brief moments we
have left.
Mr. Gonzalez. He is a very good man. He is a publisher. He
published Hong Kong's last independent newspaper. He has been
put in prison for speaking truth to power. He is not guilty of
any of the charges they have brought up against him. He is a
very true American man, and I will just leave with one thing
that he said to me once when we were meeting at his house in
Hong Kong.
Liberty is like oxygen. We take oxygen for granted. We take
breaths every second. We do not realize it. When somebody tries
to choke us, we fight for oxygen. It is the same thing with
liberty. When somebody takes your liberty away, you know we
fight for it. He is now in solitary confinement.
Chairman Bean. Thank you very much Mr. Gonzalez. My time
has expired. I now recognize Mr. Scott for 5 minutes of
questions, Mr. Scott you are recognized.
Mr. Scott. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker,
we have not said this was racist. We have said that there was a
Senate report after investigation hearings and a report that
debunks this entire issue. Ms. Kusakawa, are you familiar with
that report?
Ms. Kusakawa. Yes.
Mr. Scott. Can you say a word about it?
Ms. Kusakawa. Yes. The report that you reference to, there
has already been, as you've mentioned, multiple investigations
into Confucius Institutes, including by the Senate Committee,
entitled China's Impact on the U.S. Education System. According
to that report, it did not find security risk or threats to
intellectual property.
This is supported by other well reputed institutions,
including the Brookings Institute, as well as the Hoover
Institute at Stanford University.
Mr. Scott. Thank you. Now as you mentioned, the United
States has a history of excluding, targeting, and scapegoating
Asians and Asian Americans as a security threat based on race,
religion, and nationality. How does this targeting lead to
anti-Asian hate?
Ms. Kusakawa. Yes, and I think really that is at the heart
of the question, which is we are not accusing folks of being
racist, but merely asking for a caution, and really exercising
critical and careful approach, understanding the unique
experiences that Asian Americans have, especially currently as
U.S. China tensions have peaked.
We want genuine dialog, looking into data driven
approaches, and considering where do we generally need our
resources to be allocated, and how do basically neutral, or
well-intended approaches, how that might have a
disproportionate impact on Asian Americans.
What we are asking today is really that we consider these
other reports that have also come out, including the Senate
Committee's report. Consider how Asian American youth may be
impacted by broad sweeps and approaches, and how our rhetoric,
and the way that we speak about China could potentially lead to
ramifications for Asian Americans.
We have seen that anti-China language does lead to a
backlash of Chinese Americans, because for many of them, they
are not differentiated between this foreign government, and who
they are here. Now, this is something that is a very important
matter to me. I have heard directly from impacted persons
during my time as an attorney listening to legal referrals.
I understand many of the concerns that Mr. Gonzalez has
raised. I believe raised very exceptional good reasons for why
China poses a threat to the United States, but I really ask
that folks consider that even though there are real genuine
threats, there is also a real genuine backlash that the Asian
American immigrant community faces, and this means that we have
a responsibility to think on how we can have a nuanced approach
moving forward.
We saw in the higher ed institutions how families like that
of Professor Xiaoxing Chen and Professor Sherry Chen were
ruined, and the harm is lifelong. Let alone for us to have this
similar approach with our youth and the K to 12 education. Let
us learn from the lessons that we have seen in how we have
impacted higher ed education, the need for ending the China
Initiative, and the criminalization of research in our country.
Think about how we can treat it differently for our young
people, so that they also don't get swept up and become
collateral damage.
Mr. Scott. Thank you. Can you speak to what AASF and other
organizations you work with are doing to address these issues,
and the ways that such work impacts K through 12 students?
Ms. Kusakawa. The Asian American Scholar Forum is also a
member of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans. Our
coalition of some of the oldest and most prominent
organizations are tackling anti-Asian hate and bigotry,
holistically across our country. It includes promoting Asian
American history for example, making sure that Asian Americans
are not considered threats, lifting up our contributions to
this country, so we are not just perceived as potential tools
in national security.
How many people in the United States know that it is an
Asian American that allows us to have video calls, go on Zoom?
How many know the contributions that they have had in our
everyday lives in the technological innovations? These are the
very same people who spent their life to contribute to our
country. Professor Gang Chen even after his investigation, went
on to lead in innovation in chips technology. These are the
sort of talents that we could lose if we do not move forward in
a nuanced response.
We want to cultivate talent here. We want the United States
to remain a U.S. leadership in science and technology because
many of the immigrants, many Asian Americans came to this
country voting with our feet, rejecting the values of China's
government, and looking for the American dream.
Chairman Bean. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Scott. Our order
of questions will be Ms. Steel, followed by Ms. Bonamici. Ms.
Steel, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Steel. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for hosting this
important hearing on foreign influences within our classrooms.
I am a first generation Korean American. I was born in Korea
and raised in Japan, and I speak Korean as my first, and
Japanese my second, and English is my third.
In my district, 41 percent of first generations are in the
district, and out of that 37 percent are first generation Asian
Americans. They are very hard-working people, and they are very
proud of Americans, and I love Chinese Americans. Having said
that, stopping Confucius Institute, and Confucius classrooms,
has nothing to do with racism.
Confucius classrooms have no place in the United States.
Confucius classrooms are CCP's propaganda. This has nothing to
do with Asian Americans, and this has nothing to do with
Chinese people. I would love to submit for the record for a
recent resolution that has unanimously approved by Orange
County Board of Education. Mr. Chairman, highlighting the
concerns with Confucius Institutes, and specifically Confucius
classrooms.
Orange County Board of education worked very hard for the
students, and----
Chairman Bean. Without objection, so entered into the
record.
[The information of Ms. Steel follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Ms. Steel. Thank you, for the parents. We cannot allow
these who hate democracy and freedom to infiltrate our
classrooms. I want to ask Ms. Neily, welcome, my fellow
Pepperdine graduate. I am glad that your organization has shown
parents across the country how concerning that it is. CCP has
become embedded in our classrooms. We all are very much
concerned.
My question is more study has been done, and how damaging
the students in the classrooms, and how to stop this
propaganda, the threat of allowing influence by CCP.
Ms. Neily. How to address this?
Ms. Steel. Um-hmm.
Ms. Neily. I think I am going to quote from an old G.I. Joe
cartoon, knowing is half the battle. We need to get our arms
around the scope of this problem, and I think that is one of
the problems. We do not know how much money is coming. We do
not know where it is going. We do not know where it still
exists. Once we have that basic information, then we can start
to address it.
Some communities may say we do not want this altogether.
Other communities may say you know what? Great. We are totally
all in, we do not have a problem with this. I believe that that
should be up to communities, and individuals, but it should not
be something that is operating in the shadows without us
knowing.
As my colleague said, many people fled China because they
did not agree with that. Why then is it being pumped into the
children's heads once they have come to America? They are being
denied an opportunity to have their values put into their
children's minds at school, and that is something that we find
deeply discouraging.
As to a majority of Americans. We conducted polling on this
in June, and we found that a vast majority of Americans believe
that yes, absolutely, parents have a right to know what is
going on. 87 percent of respondents we polled felt that school
districts should be required to disclose when they accept money
from foreign governments, as Mr. Walters pointed out.
73 percent felt it was inappropriate for schools to share
student data with foreign governments that fund school
programs. 73 percent disagree that schools should be allowed to
charge tens of thousands of dollars to parents seeking
information about foreign funding.
When I requested documents on this from Fairfax County
Public Schools, the initial estimate I was provided was over
$35,000.00. That is appalling that a public school district
would throw up a barrier like that in the name of oversight,
and things like that should not happen going forward.
Ms. Steel. Well, that is the reason this Education
Committee passed the Parental Rights, and they have to know
what kind of propaganda that they are teaching. I mean how they
spend their money. Mr. Gonzalez, my own parents fled from North
Korea from Communism, and their stories have impacted me
forever.
Why must we work hard to protect our kids from the
influences that come from CCP Confucius classrooms?
Mr. Gonzalez. Thank you, Representative Steel, for that
question. I spent two wonderful years in Korea as a journalist
in the late 80's and early 90's, spoke passable Korean. This is
a foreign political party that is totalitarian. Everywhere that
Communism has been tried, the Communism has been tried, it has
ended in tyranny with the suppression of people's rights, and
economic chaos.
What they want to do is influence our children into
believing that no, it is a good system, and China's a normal
country that is not tyrannical. We could not allow that to
happen.
Ms. Steel. Thank you so much Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman Bean. Thank you very much. Up next is our Ranking
Member, Ms. Bonamici. You are recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to our
witnesses. I want to start by reiterating that oftentimes the
way this Committee discusses alleged foreign influence in
American schools and colleges, can be unproductive and harmful,
and I agree with Ms. Kusakawa that that has real implications
across the country.
Again, to emphasize, there was a report that was done.
There was an 8-month in-depth investigation into Confucius
institutes, and they found--they did not find security risks,
curriculum vulnerability, or threats to intellectual property,
and they found no evidence that suggested there was a center
for Chinese espionage efforts for any illegal activity. That
report was done, comprehensive, and although issues in national
security are important to all of our members, they are not in
this Committee's jurisdiction.
Not in this Subcommittee's jurisdiction. What is in our
jurisdiction is for every student to have a high-quality public
education and to protect students' civil rights. We need to
take that responsibility seriously, and this hearing
unfortunately misses the mark.
My daughter studied Mandarin, she studied at two U.S.
colleges. She studied at a university in China. Like thousands
of students across the country, she benefited greatly from that
experience. In fact, people frequently noted that her language
skills would give her an advantage in the workforce.
I was not concerned at all that the experience would turn
her into a Communist, or that she might be recruited to be a
foreign agent. That did not concern me one bit. I was grateful
in fact, that she had access to a multi-cultural, multi-lingual
education that exposed her to perspectives and life experiences
different from her own.
Ms. Kusakawa, in her written testimony, Ms. Neily mentions
the Sister's Oregon School District in my home State of Oregon.
As one of two school districts that hired and paid native
Chinese teachers to teach students, so there is no concrete
evidence that these teachers were influenced by the CCP or had
any intentions besides teaching language and culture to
American students.
I am going to talk about that just for a minute before I
ask you this question. Sisters for everyone's information, is a
pretty small town in central Oregon. The program was run by an
American businessman, he was the program manager. American
businessman who had spent a lot of time overseas.
He was a certified teacher, and that is what they did. They
taught Chinese language. It was originally set up through
Portland State University, which at the time did, but no longer
has, at the time they had a Confucius Institute. It is no
longer there. You would not get that from reading the
testimony.
It has been years, and I happen to know the reason it was
set up was because we had a republican State legislator who
thought it was great for students to learn Mandarin, and
actually promoted Confucius Institutes. It is gone now. They
are concerned that the program might not be able to continue,
but they are working on it because they see it as a tremendous
advantage for students to be able to become bilingual.
I know in Ms. Neily's testimony, you also make a--there is
a comment made about how Americans do not know what is in the
curriculum because they are not bilingual. I assure you that
the people in Sisters know what is in that curriculum. They
have a Director who is bilingual and they make that happen.
Ms. Kusakawa, why is it beneficial? Why might it be
beneficial for students to have the opportunity to learn a
language directly from a native speaker, or someone who's
fluent? Why would a school district want to hire a teacher to
teach a variety of world languages?
Ms. Kusakawa. Thank you so much. I think one of the key
points in this is how the United States overall is lagging when
it comes to foreign language education. The benefits that we
can have in making sure that we cultivate talents here on U.S.
soil, that many youth, like Ms. Bonamici's daughter, are folks
that become fluent, and become wonderful resources for our
country, and in the service of so many of our values.
We also need to bring talents from abroad, being able to
have our American values to attract and cultivate talent, is
one of the things that makes the United States competitive. We
have always been known as a beacon of light in the world, and
we want to make sure that we continue to be that beacon of
light, and what is a really integral part of that is making
sure that our youth become global leaders.
A key part of becoming global leaders is making sure that
they are bilingual, multi-lingual, that they have exposure to
different cultures and languages that will train and hone their
skills to the benefit of our country. There are a lot of
benefits in making sure that they have this engagement with
native speakers. It is also noted, for example, with the
University of Massachusetts, they have conducted a study on the
benefits of non-native and native speakers.
There are benefits from both, with native speakers having
tremendous benefits in terms of increasing the speaking
capabilities of their students. It is their native language,
and they are more prone to speak it in their classrooms. We
hope that these are the sort of benefits that the youth could
have moving forward.
Ms. Bonamici. This is the Early Childhood Elementary
Subcommittee. I will note that I have done academic research in
this area, and it is actually very beneficial for students to
study a second language, or any world language. It helps them
in their other topics, and it helps them to think critically.
That is what we should be talking about today, Mr. Chairman. I
yield back.
Chairman Bean. Thank you very much, Ms. Bonamici. Up next
is Utah, Burgess Owens. Representative Owens, you are
recognized for questions for 5 minutes.
Mr. Owens. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate it. Within
our country's DNA is an understanding that education is
imperative for the attainment of America's promise of life,
liberty, and pursuit of happiness. My parents had full
confidence in my 1960 school system, that it would reinforce
the values taught at home, and the love and respect for
cultural and freedom that my dad fought for in World War II.
That generation would be horrified today to see the
proliferation of anti-American propaganda in our school
systems. As educators, they would be stunned to see betrayal of
complicit school administrators with the right price, at the
behest of our enemy, the Chinese Communist Party, grants a
platform to indoctrinate our kids.
They then use our children to attack the foundation of our
American culture, faith, family, the free market, education. We
have read this over the last decade, and K through 12 school
districts established Confucius classrooms throughout our
country.
They are financed by the same CCP that today enslaves and
tortures over 1 million Muslim Uyghurs, threatens to invade a
free and prosperous Taiwan, and is responsible for the deaths
of over tens of millions of men, women and children throughout
the 20th Century. The same CCP with the help of American school
administrators, now seek to propagandize our children that
Communism is good, and that the culture of free market, free
speech and freedom of religion is bad.
American parents on both sides of the aisle are waking up
to the tactics of the CCP and are in agreement that it is time
to stop playing whack a mole. We are committed federally to
stay within our lane, through collaboration with State
legislators, and through the power of the purse we will hold
those who betray our children accountable, and we will create
and implement solutions to address the CCP's stealth attack on
our educational system.
Ms. Neily, we have heard a lot about this Chinese soft
power strategy, and how they want to influence our children
through Confucius classrooms. I think that alone is enough to
be concerned, but what else is China getting in exchange for
funding these programs.
Ms. Neily. The recent public record requests that we got
back from Fairfax County Public Schools showed when the
teachers came over in 2017, they had access to lesson plans,
floor plans, they met with teachers, then they went back and
frankly ripped off the intellectual property.
There was a series of schools in the People's Republic of
China called Thomas Schools. In their recruiting materials they
bragged about using T.J.'s STEM model. We now want Thomas
Jefferson High School, which has followed the ranking from
being America's No. 1 STEM high school to, just yesterday, was
ranking No. 7.
It is now unable to compete against its foreign
corollaries, and so while our schools are mired in equity
fights, while they are focused on identity politics, we are not
teaching our children the basics that they need, reading,
writing, and arithmetic to compete in a global economy.
There is that IP that has been ripped off. There is, as we
were mentioned before, possible access to student data, that is
something that is very concerning, but we definitely need to
know more about it. Public schools are just not good at
securing student data at all, period. They are asking students
in truths of surveys, regularly violating the PPRA, asking
about race, and politics and sex, and gender. What happens to
that?
Is it stored on a Google document? I mean we do not know
who is accessing this information. On average, two school
districts a day are hacked. There are ransomware attacks around
the country, and so this is not just a threat from outside, but
it is also a threat from people who work in these school
systems.
The list goes on and on, but there is a lot to be worried
about.
Mr. Owens. Thank you. Thank you so much. Superintendent
Walters, you talked a bit in your testimony about what the
Federal Government could do to address the problems. Let me
hear how you expand that with the concept of Congress taking
time to address these foreign influencers within, without
violating the principles of federalism.
Mr. Walters. Thank you for that question very much, and I
appreciate the leadership of this Committee addressing this
problem. I think first of all this is an issue of national
security. When you look at the indoctrination going on in our
classrooms, from several different perspectives, this is one of
the most heinous.
Frankly, when you look at this, this is a failure of Nancy
Pelosi's leadership when this was brought to her attention. The
Biden administration, this failure to secure our schools and
education system is traitorous. We have to ensure that our
schools are not being undermined by hostile, foreign
government.
I believe that any American, I have heard this from
republicans and democrats, parents from all backgrounds, they
do not want Communist China in our schools. What they want is a
history focused on academics. Schools that are focused on
promoting American values in this country, and so I believe
that you will have a consensus.
I think this Committee is showing true leadership, and you
will see a consensus of parents across the country that will
stand with you and say thank you.
Mr. Owens. Thank you for that. I will just say this, the
word traitorous, betrayal should be spoken very boldly. We have
Americans, Americans that are allowing this to happen to our
children. That is unacceptable. I would just say this, thank
you guys so much. We are going to be on this one, and I
appreciate your testimony. Appreciate it.
Chairman Bean. Thank you, Mr. Owens. Mr. Grijalva, you are
recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Grijalva. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and you know, the
backdrop to this hearing, and I associate myself with the full
Committee Ranking Member's opening comments to this hearing.
The backdrop is that the proposed cuts in a very critical area
like public education, would effectively dismantle the public
school system across this country, period.
When you get rid of Title I, when you get rid of Title III,
when you begin to reduce the availability of preschool for all
children in this country. You begin to dismantle the system. I
think that is the backdrop, and that is the reality that we are
facing. Let me ask Ms. Kusakawa, let us talk about school
climate.
Elementary, secondary schools right now are comprised of
diverse students, teachers, staff, to support this diversity
school districts are increasingly working to improve school
climate, to create a positive learning environment that
benefits all the students. My question is how are today's
demographics of students affecting education, especially K-12,
in that school climate and the new demography, the new face of
public schools?
Ms. Kusakawa. Thank you so much for that question. I think
what we are really seeing is the trickle-down effect on the
young people, in terms of what the current climate is in
academia. I want to share a quote from one youth advocate and
recent high school graduate who spoke at the White House.
She said since the pandemic she feels terrified for her
safety and her Asian peers. It feels dangerous to even be Asian
in public, especially as a teenager, who may be susceptible to
attack. Moreover, a recent report in the spring of 2021 by
Active Change reported over 3,785 incidents of verbal
harassment, shunning and physical assaults from March 2020 to
February 2021.
Of these incidents, 13 percent of the victims were zero-to
17-year-olds, with adults as the perpetrators in 60 percent of
the incidents. I mentioned before much of that is to blame,
folks are worried that they are being scapegoated under U.S.
China tensions, and accusations of Chinese government spying.
While these do pose real and genuine threats to our country, we
need to learn from our experiences with higher education. We
need a calm approach.
We need to avoid hysteria, and we need a more surgical
approach in assessing risk, what mitigation efforts are
actually needed, and how we can make sure that this does not
lead to any backlash to Asian Americans and our youth.
Mr. Grijalva. Thank you very much for that. Mr. Walters,
thank you very much for being here superintendent. I understand
that you know, you have your hands full with I think your
threatened political takeover of the largest school district in
your State because of their woke ideology, so let me be
respectful of your time.
Yes or no to my questions would be sufficient. Would you
say, your testimony focuses a lot on the influence of outside
funding in our education system, and how that undermines our
public school system. It talks about the global influence, but
little questions about consistency here. Would you say it is a
conflict of interest to have oil and gas fracking entities, and
industry dictate educational curriculum on the environment in
your schools? Yes, or no?
Mr. Walters. These are American companies that are a
benefit to American economy, so I do not see any issue with
them having influence in our education system.
Mr. Grijalva. That is okay?
Mr. Walters. Yes, sir. Yes. They are a benefit to American
society.
Mr. Grijalva. No, I am just looking for consistency. Are
you aware that PragerU, the non-accredited educationsite for
which you just announced a partnership has received millions of
dollars from the same, from oil and gas interests, and that is
okay?
Mr. Walters. They promote American values and support our
history indoctrination. Yes, sir.
Mr. Grijalva. Okay. Which leads me to the question about do
you think public dollars should go to private entities without
any transparency, without any oversight?
Mr. Walters. I think taxpayer dollars should follow a child
to where the parent chooses to send a child, so I believe
parents know best for kids.
Mr. Grijalva. What about the oversight and accountability
for those dollars?
Mr. Walters. There is no better oversight than a parent
having the ability to choose the school for their child. They
are the best accountability officers for our children.
Mr. Grijalva. Well so much for consistency. I yield back.
Chairman Bean. Thank you very much. Let us go to
Representative McClain. Representative McClain, you are
recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. McClain. Amen to that, Mr. Walters. Crazy concept that
parents have the best oversight of their kids, wow. I cannot
even believe that is controversial. Anyways, thank you, Mr.
Chairman. Thank you to all the witnesses being here today. It
is well documented that the Chinese Communist Party has been
engaged in a long-standing campaign to infiltrate the American
public education system and attempt to poison the minds of
our--our nation's children.
I am here to represent our kids. The American children, the
majority. That is my job. That is what I am elected to do, and
by God that is what I am going to do, right? I mean wake up
people. China is not our friend. Look around. They are coming
after us, educationally, militarily, academically,
economically. I mean turn the news on.
Unless you live under a rock, this is the reality in which
we live. I will not apologize to protect our American children,
period, end of conversation. That is what the voters in my
district elected me to do. With that, sorry, a little bit
passionate story got away from me.
Ms. Neily, can you talk more about the findings in the
PDE's report specifically on the 20 Confucius, 20 Confucius
classrooms located near military installations, ironically,
coincidentally, and how does this threaten our national
security.
Ms. Neily. Sure. The 20 military bases that we identified
these programs operating near, the Naval Academy in Annapolis,
Buckley Air Force Base, Davis Monthan Air Force Base, Dover Air
Force Base, Fort Bill, Fort Liberty, which was formerly known
as Fort Bragg, Fort Knox, Naval Great Lakes.
Mrs. McClain. Can I just stop you in the interest of time.
Ms. Neily. Oh, yes.
Mrs. McClain. I appreciate that. There are 20, there are 20
near military bases.
Ms. Neily. Yes. Correct.
Mrs. McClain. How many other, how many Confucius Institutes
do you know of teaching in our American schools right now?
Ms. Neily. As of today, we know that there are at least
seven that are in operation, but these are all ones that we
have current contracts in hand to prove. We suspect that there
are many, many more at the Senate, and others have found, have
estimated about 500 programs operating around the country, and
so it is a big question as to what is actually taking place
because so much of it is done underground.
To your question about the military bases, we do not know
what is happening, and that to me is the most frightening part.
Who are these employees? What do they have access to? What is
going back and forth, both going into the minds of our
children, and then what data is flowing out of these schools?
Mrs. McClain. Can you talk about what would be the harm to
be so transparent to the parents of these children?
Ms. Neily. Transparency is not harmful. That is why I find
the fact----
Mrs. McClain. Unless you are hiding something. Unless you
have an ulterior motive, and then transparency right, would you
agree with me, is gravely harmful.
Ms. Neily. Yes. I mean, I have yet to hear a good argument
why families should not have access to know where the money is
coming from, and what their kids are learning.
Mrs. McClain. Right.
Ms. Neily. We are being hit with ad hominem attacks, and
this is being called racist. What is real racism in American
schools today? We just saw the Harvard decision. That was
racism against American students. We have seen afinity groups,
where children are being segregated on the basis of skin color
in 2023, in American schools.
That is real racism. Talking and asking questions, and
saying families deserve information about who is funding their
schools is not racist.
Mrs. McClain. I cannot agree more with you. You go. Is it
possible for these teachers from China, possible, possible,
from these teachers from China to access sensitive student
information, like their healthcare, grades, maybe where they
live? Is it possible, or are schools just locked down so tight
on this sensitive information?
Ms. Neily. School data security is terrible. I am sure
Superintendent Walters can speak more about this, but student
information is there. It is in a big file, and pretty much
anybody has access to it, and so that is something that
concerns me deeply because basically anybody who has access to
a school server, should be able to access pretty much anything,
but I defer to Superintendent Walters.
Mrs. McClain. All right. Thank you. Is it also possible for
the CCP through these Chinese teachers, possible I say, that
they are influencing children to divulge information on
parent's stationed at these critical military bases? Could they
get that information?
Ms. Neily. I would assume yes, it is absolutely possible to
ask a child. I am the parent of an 8-year old and a 9-year old,
and man they tell everybody everything about me.
Mrs. McClain. In my 10 seconds remaining, I just want
everyone to think about who are we protecting here. I will
share with you who I am protecting. I took an oath to protect
the Constitution, and to protect Americans, and especially our
children, and that is what I think we intend to do.
I think we need to continue to look at the harm that
transparency is causing, or I should say lack thereof, so thank
you all for your witnesses. I am over. Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
I yield back.
Chairman Bean. Thank you. Representative DeSaulnier, you
are recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. DeSaulnier. Thank you. You clearly took high school
French with that pronunciation at some point. Well, I want to
thank all the witnesses. Obviously important for transparency
for our kids, and future generations. Ms. Kusakawa, a friend of
mine, Peter Shreg, is a fairly well-known researcher on the
west coast. I am from California. Both on education and
immigration. His last two books have been about the Pacific
Rim, and how important it is in a global economy, and how
America benefits from the diversity of the immigration.
We understand we have people in the Pacific Rim who may not
want us to do well in this country. He speaks of the strengths.
While we are careful about the transparency, I think on a
bipartisan level, and people who do not wish us well in other
countries, global competitors.
We also balance that what he has written about, about how
similar this immigration in the last 30 years in the Pacific
Rim, was to the late 1800's and early 1900's on the Atlantic
Rim, but this is more diverse. Again, in the global economy
with the two largest economies competing, and sometimes
complimenting one another.
In California, being the fourth largest economy, what his
research shows that although we have many challenges with
diversity and technology, it is something to be welcomed, which
seems logical to me in a global economy. Could you speak to
that? The importance of the richness and acceptability of
diversity, while at the same time recognizing the reality of
global politics?
Ms. Kusakawa. No, absolutely, I think ASF really pushes for
a balanced approach because we recognize so many of America's
strengths is in our openness, and in our diversity. Asian
American communities is a predominantly immigrant community,
and this is how we end up having new Asian Americans that can
be a wonderful resource, and community here in the United
States.
I think what is really important here is looking to make
sure that we are grounded in facts, and data, and not look
toward speculation or over-reaction. There are already existing
reports on this issue, and we urge folks to look into it,
especially the Senate report, the Brookings Institute report.
There has been so much time and investment. We understand
that there are real genuine threats, but let us not shoot
ourselves in the foot, and harm our competitive advantage in
the United States. It is our values that make us strong. It is
our openness, our ability to cultivate our youth to be global
leaders, that makes us absolutely unique on the world stage.
Mr. DeSaulnier. A followup question. I represent a district
in the East Bay that has grown dramatically, and traditionally
the commute was in the San Francisco, but much of the
population, particular in the southern end of my district, are
Asian immigrants who work in Silicon Valley.
The confluence of technology, particularly for young people
in diversity, could you speak to that? My anecdotal experience
is remarkable, but again, we have to be aware that there are
people who are wanting to use that, particularly for future
generations.
Ms. Kusakawa. Yes. Actually, in the current climate we have
seen a report for example, that our membership had drafted and
was published in the proceedings of national academies, from
which many noble laureates come from, had found that we were
actually losing talent in the United States. We are having
researchers who are scared of applying for Federal grants.
At the end of the day this hurts our technological
advancement here in the United States. Losing talent is not
just about losing one person. It is about losing a potential
innovation, our advantages in chips technology, the innovations
that we ended up having in cell phones because of contributions
of Asian Americans.
This is a widespread issue in our education system, in our
private sector, in our academic institutions, and we need to
make sure we have the right approach. We need to be data driven
in our policies, and we need to take into consideration the
Asian American experience.
They are the people our country needs, their contributions,
their talents, and their attributes, and we hope that that can
be taken into consideration.
Mr. DeSaulnier. I really appreciate that. I just finished
with what my friend Peter talks about in his two books about
this wave of immigration is actually assimilating faster than
the European waves of immigration, so having someone who grew
up on the 128 corridor in Boston.
Watching my parents and grandparents talk about their
assimilation, Peter's research would suggest that this actually
a model, that this immigration, again acknowledging that there
is a global competition, and we--to the other witnesses in
their perspective we cannot be naive about what other global
competitive economies and their rulers want to do to this
country. Thank you, I yield back.
Chairman Bean. Mr. DeSaulnier, thank you so much. We now
recognize Mr. Thompson from Pennsylvania. You are recognized
for 5 minutes.
Mr. Thompson. Chairman, thank you very much. I think you
know, just the context for this, thank you for this hearing. I
think it is important to point out our problem is not with the
Chinese people, or people of Chinese descent. The problem is
with the current Chinese government.
Let us focus where the problem is. I believe in root cause
analysis, and that is the Chinese government. It is not the
Chinese people, or Chinese Americans, or anything like that. I
think we need to be eyes wide open here. Why has this really
risen to the top, and it should be talked about anyways, but
frankly, we have the Chinese government that you know, we hear
all the time about the purchase of U.S. agriculture acreage by
the Chinese government.
Some of that in proximity to military installations, some
of it not. Spying, both in and over the United States has been
in the headlines. Establishing overseas military bases,
stealing resources in south Central China, seeing intimidating
Taiwan. The list is lengthy, and we could probably do a hearing
just on that, but our point today is what it really is the
pathway to opportunity, and it's the influence on education.
I want to thank the Chairman, and all of our witnesses, as
our students in schools struggle to recover from pandemic
induced learning losses, I think we can all agree that this is
an appropriate time to evaluate every aspect of our children's
educational system, including foreign influence by foreign
countries.
Now while we have discussed issues of foreign influence and
higher education, I am increasingly concerned about the reports
of the Chinese government influence, and I include the military
with that in our elementary and secondary schools. We know that
soft power is one of the main ways that the Chinese Communist
Party seeks to gain influence around the world, and we must
remain on guard of these attempts on U.S. soil.
They do not do it in a vacuum. There is a short list I
shared with you among other things, that China is very
aggressive right now. It probably has been, and we just have
not been paying as close attention in the past. Mr. Gonzalez,
in your many years of working around the world, can you tell us
a bit more about where you have seen the CCP use so called soft
power to gain influence over local communities and other
countries?
I think that is important under the premise that the best
predictor of future performance is past performance, and how
does this usually play out?
Mr. Gonzalez. Thank you, Representative Thompson. When we
speak about Chinese soft power, we have to be very clear about
what we mean. There are people all over the world that wear New
York Yankees caps and blue jeans. We are very appealing as to
society, in a way that China is not.
Nobody wears, you know, we all wear Chinese apparel, but we
do not--China does not have the kind of appeal that we have.
What China does for example, is with Hollywood here in this
country, they have, having vested heavily in Hollywood studios,
and what they say to the studios, if you want it has a second
largest box office in the world, after we do.
If you want to show this movie in China, you have to let us
look at the script. We have to be involved from the very
beginning. Sometimes Hollywood studios have made two versions
of a movie, one to be shown in China, and one to be shown here.
Or they have just really cut back on any criticism of China.
Richard Gere, who was a top box office hit in the 90's, all
of a sudden disappeared. Why did he disappear? He was best
friends with Dalai Lama, and China sent very clearly the
message. If you use Richard Gere in any of your movies, you are
not going to be able to show any of them here.
That is the kind of thing China does all over the world. It
also for example, buys radio stations in Australia, here in the
U.S. and many of the countries. You are not aware that you are
listening to Chinese propaganda, but you are not going to hear
anything about the Uyghur genocide.
You are not going to be hearing anything about how China
violated its word that it gave the world that it was going to
respect the rights of Hong Kong citizens, and it has done
nothing of the sort. You are not going to get any of that in
any textbook or any teacher that comes from China, from the
PRC, to teach in our schools.
This is a major issue, one that should really be
bipartisan. I thank you, Chairman Bean, for holding this very
important hearing because this is an issue that should concern
all of us. Mr. Gonzalez, with about 30 seconds left here, you
said we should be taking measures, we should be showing action.
What measures do you believe Congress can take today to ensure
that we prevent the influence of malicious foreign actors in
and around our Nation's schools?
Mr. Gonzalez. Well as Ms. Neily said, I think we should
demand transparency in the contracts. What is wrong with
transparency? The American people have the right to know what
is in the contract between the Confucius classrooms, or the
remaining Confucius Institutes and the schools. Han Ban, well
it used to be Han Ban, it is now another institution that runs
the Confucius classrooms and institutes.
Transparency is something we should all welcome as a
democracy.
Mr. Thompson. Thank you.
Chairman Bean. Thank you. Let us go to Mr. Williams of New
York. You are recognized for 5 minutes in questions.
Mr. Williams. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all for
being here, and I think this is an important topic of our day.
In May 1989 was the last time I was in China. I was there
during the Tiananmen Square protest, as part of a visiting
school trip, and spent several days in the capital and among
the students that were protesting there.
It was only I guess about three or 4 weeks later that we
learned what the consequence of that would be. During my time I
visited Beijing University, Beida, and saw the Freedom Wall,
and the expressions of hope and aspiration, and desire in the
eyes of the Chinese students. Following fall semester, I
enrolled at Harvard University in an Asian studies program,
Chinese studies program.
Many of the dissident students who had fled their country
were present and had first-hand testimony of all that had
occurred. I think we all know how the Chinese Communist Party
views education. They view education as being entirely
subordinate to the party, to the message of Socialism and
Communism, and they will broke no debate on that topic,
including rolling tanks in Tiananmen Square, and threatening
their own people.
Shockingly, I have discovered closer to home, a report from
the Parents Defending Education that has pointed to 12 New York
schools that have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in
total of funding from the Chinese Communist Party. Have they
discovered some new enlightenment of supporting education in
America? I do not think so.
They are diametrically opposed to what the goal of
education in America should be, which is to produce students,
to produce citizens that are able to express themselves, able
to know their own thoughts, that are able to articulate their
values and defend them against the government if necessary.
I doubt seriously if funding from the Chinese Communist
Party has anything positive to do with education in America.
This is a deeply problematic issue for me. I recently wrote a
letter to our Governor, Governor Hochul, asking her to stop
this, to investigate it, to root it out, and to eliminate it.
I would ask your help. My first question is what can State
governments like mine, how can I advise Kathy Hochul to
mitigate the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in our
education system. How can we protect the children of New York?
Mr. Walters. Thank you for your question, and I appreciate
your sentiment there. In Oklahoma, what we have done is we have
required every district to tell us if they have taken any money
from a foreign government. We are also requiring them to turn
over any funds coming into their district from a nonprofit.
What we have seen is Communist China utilized affiliated
nonprofit groups to do that.
I think this is--every State should do this. It gives you
the ability as a taxpayer, as a parent, as a grandparent, to
see what is going on in the schools, and then we should start
banning this practice.
Mr. Williams. If I may just followup in the time that we
have. At a Federal level looking at the Department of Education
and this Congress, what is it that we can do that can help
address this issue nationwide?
Mrs. Neily. I know Representative Jim Banks sent a letter
to Secretary Cardona asking him to investigate this. Senator
Tim Scott led a similar effort on the Senate side. At the
higher education level, there is Section 117 of the Higher
Education Act, which requires that colleges disclose gifts
received from in contracts with a foreign source that combined
hit $250,000.00 or more in a calendar year.
We ask that you put in place something similar for K to 12,
but I would urge you to put in place a far lower threshold. The
average value of the gifts that we found was around $10,000.00,
so very low. As we know from the Banks Secrecy Act, there are
bad actors that structure transactions to avoid that reporting
threshold.
I would urge you to have something that is very low, and
that brings in both contracts as well as pass through entities
as Mr. Walters eluded to.
Mr. Williams. It is interesting that we look for money
laundering at amounts $10,000.00 and above, but we do not look
for the influence of a hostile nation at a similar level. Thank
you so much for drawing attention to this and providing your
expertise. I yield back.
Chairman Bean. Thank you very much. The Chair is pleased to
recognize the Chair of the main Committee, Dr. Foxx.
Representative Foxx, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. Foxx. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I want to
reiterate what was said earlier about the fact that this--we
are concerned about the influence of the Communist Chinese
government here. We are not in any way conflating that concern
with talking about Asian Americans.
We are very, very big believers in transparency in this
Committee, in everything that we talk about, that is what we
are asking for. Mr. Gonzalez, you mentioned this briefly in
your testimony, but what kind of solutions would you recommend
for the problem of foreign influence in K-12 schools?
Mr. Gonzalez. Well I believe that given the fact that we
are talking about a foreign adversary, the Congress has very
much a role here to play, and as I said, to suspend all
collaboration between U.S. entities and PRC entities that have
to do with anything that the States Security Ministry, which is
intelligence, or with defense, or anything that you know,
obviously we are going to trade with China, but anything that
has to do with defense, or intelligence, you should ban it, you
know.
They are going to--as Representative said before, they do
not--they mean ill to us. They are not paying for these books
because they want us to learn. We should learn Mandarin. I
studied Mandarin myself personally, and Japanese and Korean.
This is not what this is about.
This is about a foreign party, a Communist party run
country, that is trying to influence how we think and how we
act.
Mrs. Foxx. Thank you. I think it is important that that
statement be very clear to people. Ms. Neily, we have talked a
lot about the Chinese Communist Party, and for good reason, but
I am afraid other countries might try to copy what they are
doing. Is there evidence that other countries are trying to
infiltrate U.S. K-12 education?
Mrs. Neily. There is actually. We found recently several
hundred thousand dollars in donations going from the Qatar
Foundation to schools in Arizona. Then the public records that
I got back again from Fairfax County Public Schools, we found
an inquiry from the Skolkovo Foundation in Russia, which is
tied to former Premiere Dmitry Medvedev.
We are still trying to chase that down, but it very much
feels like American schools seem to have an open for business
shingle out, and that is deeply worrying.
Mrs. Foxx. Thank you very much. Ms. Neily, someone
listening to this hearing might come away thinking this is a
partisan issue, but I actually suspect that parents on both
sides of the aisle do not want foreign governments, especially
Communist powers, indoctrinating their children. Do you have
any polling on how parents feel about this issue?
Ms. Neily. Yes. We conducted polling on this issue in June
just to test the waters and see how people felt. As you eluded
to, there was certainly bipartisan agreement. This kind of
interference is inappropriate. 58 percent of people felt that
it was inappropriate for schools to accept money at all from
foreign governments.
57 percent believed that schools should be required to
provide translations of materials. 73 percent felt it was
inappropriate for schools to share student data with foreign
governments that fund school programs, and 87 percent felt that
respondents, or felt that districts should be required to
disclose when they accept money from foreign governments.
Mrs. Foxx. Well, thank you. I am going to do one more
followup question on it. You have done a lot of work to give us
a better sense of how deeply the CCP has become embedded in the
classrooms. What can future researchers do to help us get a
better sense of the problem?
Ms. Neily. You know the 2019 Senate report has come up a
lot, and I think the world has changed a lot since then. We
know a lot more, and I urge congressional Research Service to
update that report. Let us think back to when the spy balloon
was flying over America a few months ago. Initially we just
thought hey, this is harmless, and then when it crashed, and we
dissected it, we found out it was absolutely not.
I think very much like with that, with the education
reports. We know more now than we did then, and we should
continue to investigate this.
Mrs. Foxx. Thank you very much. I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Bean. Thank you very much, Dr. Foxx. Let us go to
Mr. Walberg. Mr. Walberg, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Walberg. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, thank you for
allowing me to waive on to the Subcommittee. It is an important
subject, and thanks to the panel for being here. The Communist
Party has a long, dark history of political suppression,
persecution and violence, and that is against their own people.
I think that is what we need to make very clear. Our hearts
break for the Chinese people, whether they be Uyghurs or
others. Whether you have organ harvesting going on, religious,
political persecution, and any of us who have been to China
understand the repressive sense that you have there where truth
is not honored, or even allowed.
Unfortunately, we have seen a rise in the CCP's influence
in our education institutes and living in the shadow of major
universities like the University of Michigan I have seen it and
experienced it. For too long I did not take it seriously
myself.
As we have heard today, the CCP has achieved some success
in undermining and infiltrating our schools, both at the K-12
and postsecondary institutions. At the K-12 level these
Confucius classrooms act as a foothold for the CCP to
disseminate propaganda to whitewash the atrocities of past
Communist regimes.
These classrooms are part of a broader effort to advance
Chinese interests by exercising soft power in all American
educational institutions. They downplay horrific Chinese human
rights abuses, chill or prohibit discussion of the Tiananmen
Square Massacre, and suppress opposition to Chinese aggression
toward Taiwan.
Disturbingly, younger generations of Americans are
increasingly unaware of Communism abuses. Like I certainly was
aware as a child of the 50's and 60's, hiding under my desk in
a nuclear bomb training sessions from the Soviet Union,
Communism, and certainly CCP.
28 percent of Gen Z hold a favorable opinion of the term
Communism, compared to just 6 and 3 percent of Baby Boomers and
the silent generations respectively. Ms. Neily, last week this
Committee passed the crucial Communism Teaching Act, which will
facilitate the development of educational resources so students
can better understand the dangers of Communism, and
Totalitarianism, and how those systems are contrary to our
founding principles of freedom and democracy.
Former Secretary DeVos who I was with last week, and
Secretary Pompeo pushed back against the influence of Confucius
Institutes in our education system during the previous
administration. In your opinion, how can Congress and this
administration build off the Trump administration's policies,
while still respecting local control?
I guess I would also ask Mr. Walters to answer that,
because I would prefer that we not have a U.S. Department of
Education. That the buck for education would stop at the
greatest level, at the State Department of Education. Ms. Neily
first, and then Mr. Walters.
Mrs. Neily. Sure. You know, Randy Wangeran uses the phrase
teaching true history, and I appreciate your efforts to advance
the cause of teaching the true history about Communism,
teaching the trueness about what is taking place in these
countries. It is something that Florida has taken the lead in,
and I expect many other states to do so as well.
I think that is a very important first step, so we
appreciate that, and we will let Secretary Walters, or
Superintendent Walters talk about the State federalism issue.
Mr. Walters. You know, and Congressman, I appreciate your
comments there. I agree with you. I do not think there should
be a Federal Department of Education. When you look at a
situation like this that involves national security, we are
talking about an issue where we have got our military personnel
preparing now for potential issues with foreign countries that
are this adversarial.
I believe that this is of the highest order for our
national security to ensure that we do not have this invasion
of our schools to a foreign enemy. I believe that this is
absolutely appropriate for the Federal Government to step in to
preserve the safety of American citizens, to ensure that we do
not have a hostile foreign government utilizing propaganda in
our schools.
Mr. Walberg. Let me turn to you, Mr. Gonzalez, with your
background in the media, as well as at the executive level. How
do we do this, and respect local control?
Mr. Gonzalez. Respect what?
Mr. Walberg. Local control?
Mr. Gonzalez. Well, I think as Mr. Walters said, given the
fact that we are looking at a hostile power, the Federal
Government very definitely has a role. I believe very strongly
that education belongs at the local level, to the families of
the natural sovereign of education, at least the states. The
Federal Government should stay away most of the time.
This is one area, in which because it is an issue of
national security, that you can--I urge you to do what you can
to ban, to prohibit these collaborations.
Mr. Walberg. Some of us ought to be looking at it. Thank
you. I thank the gentleman.
Chairman Bean. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Walberg.
We are nearing the end of our conversation. That concludes our
questions. I now recognize Ms. Bonamici for a closing
statement.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the
panel. Unfortunately, today's hearing has been another part of
the majority's extreme MAGA agenda to inject culture wars and
partisan politics into our public schools in a way that can
fuel anti-Asian American bias, and provide a platform for
claims that have been found by a comprehensive investigation to
be unsubstantiated, not well documented.
I want to say I agree with Mr. Thompson from Pennsylvania,
that the problem is not the Chinese people. The problem is the
Chinese government. Unfortunately, that is often not the way
that it is perceived by the public when we have a hearing like
this.
I also want to note that the hearing is taking place, and
we are less than 2 weeks away from a possible government
shutdown, because extremist republicans are threatening an
array of extremely devastating cuts to Federal programs that
are critical to support all students' rights to a high-quality
public education.
I want to reiterate that although issues of national
security are important to all of our members, they are not
under the jurisdiction of this Committee. Instead, we can and
should discuss how to provide students with an inclusive,
accurate, and well-funded education without promoting
conspiracy theories, fear mongering, or fueling anti-Asian
American discrimination.
I mentioned accurate. It is interesting that you all agree
that students should get an accurate teaching about what
happens in China. They should also get an accurate teaching
about what has happened in the United States in our history
here. I also am glad that there seems to be an agreement that
studying world languages is important.
I am glad. I do not think anybody disagrees with that. I
want to reiterate that right now the majority is proposing
significant cuts to the Federal education budget. If Federal
funding is cut, it is extremely unlikely that districts will
offer second language or world languages, except the high-
income districts.
Cutting Federal funding to the extent that it is being
proposed would be devastating across the country. Our role as
Federal legislators in education is about equity of opportunity
and closing opportunity gaps. We will see the high-income
districts continue to have world language, but not the low-
income districts, and that is really unfortunate.
I also want to note because it is part of the testimony, in
the written testimony. I visit schools and classrooms across
Oregon, urban, suburban, rural, in red and blue areas, and I
have never, ever seen anyone trying to remove parents from
their child's education, and I have never seen any school
trying to embrace hostile, foreign governments.
I invite my republican colleagues to stand with
congressional democrats. We have laid out a clear legislative
agenda that puts students, parents and educators on a path to
success by fostering healthier and more inclusive school
climates, rebuilding aging and physically unsafe school
facilities, and protecting the civil rights of all students.
Thank you, and I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Bean. Thank you very much Ranking Member Bonamici.
For the last several decades China has been aggressively
seeking to be the dominant player in the world. They have been
aggressively moving against our country and other countries,
whether it is mineral rights, or just undermining our efforts
with the dollar and what not.
America needed a wake-up call. I think that wake-up call
came in the form of a Chinese spy balloon that we saw firsthand
the true actions of this country. Today, today I think we all
have raised a red flag of what is happening in the classroom,
and now that we know what is going on, hopefully we can take
actions as they have done in Oklahoma, and across the Nation of
what they have done to counteract and realize that this is
happening.
Our takeaway, our takeaway if anybody is watching, our
takeaway is not against the Chinese people. It is against the
aggressive nature of the Chinese government. With that, I think
we are all better off if we armed ourselves with the facts and
information that we can go work on giving our kids the best
unbiased education that we possibly can give.
Our panelists, you did great today, thank you so much for
making the trip. We appreciate your input and being a part of
the conversation. Without objection, there being no further
business, the Subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon at 11:58 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
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