As students in Florida begin the new school year, U.S. Congressman Aaron Bean (FL-04) expressed his support for Senator Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) introduction of the Senate companion to the Transparency in Reporting of Adversarial Contributions to Education (TRACE) Act. The bill is designed to give parents more insight into how foreign funding may be influencing their children’s education and to block adversarial nations from reaching American students.
“As Florida families send their children back to school, they deserve confidence that the classrooms are free from foreign interference. The TRACE Act ensures parents have the right to know how foreign influence may be affecting their child’s education and takes real steps to stop adversarial nations from targeting our youth. I’m proud to have Senator Cruz leading this effort in the Senate and thank him for joining me in the fight to protect the integrity of American education,” said Congressman Bean.
Senator Cruz stated, “The Chinese Communist Party spends vast resources to control what Americans see, hear, and ultimately think. Our foreign adversaries are actively targeting American educational institutions, and the TRACE Act will help protect our classrooms from foreign influence by providing parents with the transparency they deserve. I urge my colleagues to pass this legislation without delay.”
Organizations such as Parents Defending Education Action and Heritage Action support this legislation.
Alfonso Aguilar, Director of Federal Affairs for Parents Defending Education Action, commented: “Parents should know if a foreign government or entity is providing funding to their children’s schools, trying to influence what is taught to them or seeking to access important data and intellectual property. A 2023 investigation from our partner organization Defending Education uncovered Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence in numerous public schools and school districts across the nation. Their research showed that entities with ties to the CCP such as the Confucius Institutes have provided curriculum content, funding and Chinese teachers to U.S. public schools. Disturbingly, they also found that the Chinese government efforts appeared to target school districts near over twenty American bases. Our investigation, however, only discovered some or the CCP’s growing involvement in our public schools. The TRACE Act would ensure that parents have a full and continuous accounting of China’s meddling in their children’s education.”
The TRACE Act has already passed through the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. If enacted, it would require schools to let parents review any curriculum funded by or purchased with foreign funds; mandate notification when schools receive foreign contracts or financial transactions; and require disclosure about employees compensated by other countries or donations received from foreign governments.
Congressman Aaron Bean represents Florida’s 4th district in Congress after replacing John Rutherford in 2023 (https://www.house.gov/representative/aaron-bean). He previously served in both chambers of Florida’s state legislature over two decades (https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/details.aspx?MemberId=4205&SessionId=54), was born in Fernandina Beach in 1967 where he still resides today, and graduated from Jacksonville University with a bachelor’s degree in 1989.
