The Senate’s proposal for a long-term continuing resolution includes a pool of $35 million to be distributed as competitive grants for k-12 civic education. These funds would help develop, strengthen, and evaluate innovative educational strategies. Strategies that worked could then be widely used by teachers and schools across the country.

In contrast, the House has passed HR 1, the full-year appropriations act, that ends all federal funding for civics.

Civic education has bipartisan support, deep historical precedent (going back to Thomas Jefferson)–and it costs a pittance. The Senate proposal equals one seventeen hundredth of all the House domestic budget cuts. We are not asking the federal government to fund, require, or evaluate civic education, but only to fund improvements in teaching that can “go to scale.” If you agree, please call or email your Senators to support the competitive funding pool for civics. Ask them to contact Senator Harkin to state their support.

The Senate votes tomorrow, so this is urgent.