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Crucial Communism Teaching Act
To develop and disseminate a civic education curriculum and oral history resources regarding certain political ideologies, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill directs the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation to develop and distribute civic education curriculum for high school students that includes comparative discussion of communism, totalitarianism, and other political ideologies. The curriculum is intended for use in social studies, government, history, and economics classes and should convey factual information about communism and its historical impacts. The bill also authorizes the foundation to develop oral history resources featuring personal accounts from individuals who have experienced communist regimes and can compare those systems to U.S. democracy. The foundation is directed to work with state and local education leaders to help high schools implement these materials.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Kennedy, John [R-LA] (R-LA)
2 cosponsors
- Sen. Schmitt, Eric [R-MO] (R-MO)
- Sen. Scott, Rick [R-FL] (R-FL)
Actions (2)
- Mar 12, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. · senate
- Mar 12, 2025 Introduced in Senate
More bills on these subjects (8)
Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 12, 2025
Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. Scott of Florida, and Mr. Schmitt) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To develop and disseminate a civic education curriculum and oral history resources regarding certain political ideologies, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Crucial Communism Teaching Act”.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are the following:
(1) To help families, civic institutions, local communities, local educational agencies, high schools, and State educational agencies to prepare high school students to be civically responsible and knowledgeable adults.
(2) To ensure that high school students in the United States—
(A) learn that communism has led to the deaths of more than 100,000,000 victims worldwide;
(B) understand the dangers of communism and similar political ideologies; and
(C) understand that 1,500,000,000 people still suffer under communism.
SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT AND DISSEMINATION OF CIVIC EDUCATION CURRICULUM AND ORAL HISTORY RESOURCES.
The independent entity created under section 905(b)(1)(B) of the FRIENDSHIP Act (Public Law 103-199; 107 Stat. 2331), also known as the “Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation”, shall—
(1) develop a civic education curriculum for high school students that—
(A) includes a comparative discussion of certain political ideologies, including communism and totalitarianism, that conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy that are essential to the founding of the United States;
(B) is accurate, relevant, and accessible, so as to promote the understanding of such political ideologies; and
(C) is compatible with a variety of courses, including social studies, government, history, and economics classes;
(2) develop oral history resources that may be used alongside the curriculum described in paragraph (1) and that include personal stories, titled “Portraits in Patriotism”, from diverse individuals who—
(A) demonstrate civic-minded qualities;
(B) are victims of the political ideologies described in paragraph (1)(A); and
(C) are able to compare the political ideologies described in paragraph (1)(A) with the political ideology of the United States; and
(3) engage with State and local educational leaders to assist high schools in using the curriculum described in paragraph (1) and the resources described in paragraph (2).
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
The terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801) shall apply to this Act. <all>
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