Sooner State News

Last week, Parents Defending Education released a report proving the existence of "Confucius Classrooms" in the United States that are currently in operation. These classrooms are designed to teach Chinese language and culture and have partnerships with the Chinese government.

"State and federal officials should immediately begin investigations to determine the scope of China’s involvement, influence, and access to our K-12 student information and curriculum. This report should be made public once complete, so parents can make informed decisions on their children’s involvement in these controversial programs. Families should also have full access to view how these cultural and language immersion programs are financed," Parents Defending Education commented.

Parents Defending Education, an organization dedicated to "reclaiming schools from activists imposing harmful agendas," released a new report on July 26, providing evidence of "Confucius Classrooms," referred to as "Little Red Classrooms". The findings show that these classrooms are both funded and programmed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As of now, 13 Confucius Institutes are still functioning, while 108 institutes have either closed or are in the process of shutting down. Minnesota, Kentucky, Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma and Washington currently have schools that are still associated with the CCP, according to PDE.

PDE's affiliated organization, PDE Action, forwarded the report's findings in letters to House Education & Workforce Committee Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, and Rep. Mike McCaul, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee from Texas. A similar letter was also sent to 33 governors, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. As per the report, a total of $17,967,565 in funding was uncovered across 143 U.S. school districts, including 20 in close proximity to U.S. military bases, all of which have connections to the CCP, according to Fox News.

"At the Congressional level, committees of jurisdiction should move to hold hearings to determine the scope of this security vulnerability, and specifically to evaluate how China’s infiltration of our K-12 classrooms has compromised student information, curriculum data, and America’s intellectual property," PDE said in the report.

In Oregon, there are indications that The Sisters School District maintains an ongoing financial association with the Portland State University Confucius Institute, as reflected in the district's budget with a specified allocation of $15,513 from the Institute for the 2022-2023 academic year. Initially reported in 2015, the University's Confucius Institute was set to provide students from elementary to high school levels the opportunity to learn Mandarin Chinese. Within the district's high school, the "World Languages" program featured "three native speaker Chinese teachers sponsored by Hanban, a segment of the China Ministry of Education," collaborating through the Confucius Classroom initiative. By 2021, the affiliation between Portland State University and the Confucius Institute had ceased, according to PDE.