Commentary for a Sunday: China is Funding America’s Public Schools with $17 Million ‘Global Influence’ Plan, GOP Investigating

China’s tentacles are reaching into American public schools at an alarming rate, according to parents and several Republican members of Congress.

This from westernjournal.com.

A new report from Parents Defending Education—a grassroots organization focused on education—has reported:

[O]ver time, China has reached into 143 school districts in 34 states and the District of Columbia through its Confucius Classrooms program, giving schools $17,967,565.12 since 2009.

Of those schools, the report stated:

The CCP has had ties to school districts near 20 U.S. military bases.

The group’s report, titled Little Red Classrooms, stated:

The allure of Chinese language and culture programs have led American K-12 schools to forge ties with one of the United States’ biggest foreign adversaries.

The report further stated:

While it’s important to provide students access to Chinese language and culture programs in schools, American schools should not give the Chinese Communist Party unfettered access to our students.

The Confucius Classrooms project is an offshoot of what are called Confucius Institutes that were set up at U.S. universities.

The report from Parents Defending Education continued:

Chinese state media has touted the work done by Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms to further the Chinese Communist Party’s global influence.

A report from the National Association of Scholars noted that many Confucius Institutes closed down due to “pressure from the FBI, the Department of State, Congress, and state legislatures.”

As noted by the U.K. Daily Mail:

[S]everal Republicans in Congress want all existing partnerships scrutinized or severed.

Republican Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida said the Parents Defending Education report is “’alarming” because:

[W]e truly don’t understand the full extent of Communist China’s meddling in our education system.

He continued, using an acronym for the Chinese Communist Party:

Not only is the CCP trying to promote their propaganda through education programs but are using Chinese shell companies to outright buy American private schools around the country.

Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas told the Daily Mail that the apparent targeting of schools near military bases is concerning.

Sen. Marshall explained:

From buying our farmland to setting up CCP police stations here on U.S. soil, stealing our intellectual property, spying on our military bases, and now buying their way into our children’s K-12 schools, it is past time for this administration to wake up and realize what we are up against.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, said:

Learning languages and cultures critical to national security, like Chinese, is essential, but it shouldn’t come with Communist propaganda and influence.

Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana said;

The Chinese Communist Party is not a trustworthy partner. Accepting funding and influence from our greatest adversary is a threat to America’s children and national security.

Banks wrote in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, according to the Washington Examiner:

The CCP’s goal is to undermine U.S. strength at home and our leadership abroad. We should take every measure to strengthen our defenses against this adversary, which must include blocking their ability to propagandize in America’s K-12 schools. I call on you to immediately address this issue with the urgency it deserves and look forward to your response.

Final thoughts: The time may have come for America to conduct its own version of the Boxer Rebellion. I’m not condoning killing, however, China must be pushed out of America.