Fight Radicalization of Elementary Education (FREE) Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3157 To amend section 8526A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to prohibit Federal mandates, direction, or control with respect to American history and civics education, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 12, 2021 Mr. MURPHY of North Carolina (for himself and Ms. FOXX) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend section 8526A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to prohibit Federal mandates, direction, or control with respect to American history and civics education, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fight Radicalization 4 of Elementary Education (FREE) Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:11 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3157.IH H3157 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3157 IH SEC. 2. PROHIBITION AGAINST FEDERAL MANDATES, DI- 1 RECTION, OR CONTROL. 2 Subsection (b) of section 8526A of the Elementary 3 and Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. 7906a) is 4 amended— 5 (1) by striking ‘‘(b) FINANCIAL SUPPORT.—’’ 6 and inserting ‘‘(b) FINANCIAL SUPPORT.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—’’; and 8 (2) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(2) AMERICAN HISTORY AND CIVICS EDU- 10 CATION.—No officer or employee of the Federal 11 Government shall condition or incentivize the receipt 12 of any grant, contract, or cooperative agreement, the 13 receipt of any priority or preference under such 14 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement, or the re- 15 ceipt of a waiver under section 8401, upon a State, 16 local educational agency, or school’s adoption or im- 17 plementation of specific instructional content, aca- 18 demic standards and assessments, curriculum, or 19 program of instruction related to— 20 ‘‘(A) the priorities noticed in the proposed 21 rule submitted by the Department of Education 22 relating to Proposed Priorities-American His- 23 tory and Civics Education (published at 86 24 Fed. Reg. 20348 (April 19, 2021)); or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:11 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3157.IH H3157 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3157 IH ‘‘(B) any other priorities or requirements 1 under any grant, contract, or cooperative agree- 2 ment related to the teaching of Critical Race 3 Theory.’’. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:11 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3157.IH H3157 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS