To ensure that parents are aware of foreign influence in their child’s public school, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Passed HouseReceived; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, …
Passed House (inferred from eh version)
Additional sponsors: Mr. Barr and Mrs. Houchin
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the …
Mr. Bean of Florida (for himself and Mr. Mackenzie) introduced …
On Passage
TRACE Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The TRACE Act gives parents of K-12 students the right to request information about foreign funding at their child's public school. Parents can request copies of curricula purchased with foreign funds, learn how many school staff are paid with foreign money, and obtain details about any donations, contracts, or financial transactions between the school and foreign countries or foreign entities of concern.
Who Benefits and How
Parents gain transparency about foreign influence in their children's schools. Schools must respond to written requests within 30 days. The bill particularly targets funding from "foreign entities of concern" - entities connected to China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. National security interests benefit from reduced foreign influence in K-12 education.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Public schools face new compliance requirements - they must post notices of parental rights, respond to parent requests, and track foreign funding sources. School districts receiving federal ESEA funds (nearly all public schools) must comply or risk losing funding. Schools with existing foreign partnerships (language programs, cultural exchanges) face the greatest administrative burden.
Key Provisions
- Parents can request copies of curricula purchased with foreign funds every 4 weeks
- Schools must disclose how many personnel are compensated with foreign funds
- Schools must disclose all donations, contracts, and financial transactions with foreign countries
- Applies to all K-12 schools receiving ESEA funding (condition of federal funding)
- Schools must post notice of parental rights at beginning of each school year
- State and local educational agencies must notify schools of requirements annually
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Requires K-12 public schools to disclose foreign funding to parents upon request, including curricula purchased with foreign funds, foreign-funded personnel, and any donations/contracts with foreign countries or foreign entities of concern.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Extend foreign influence transparency requirements to K-12 education, similar to higher ed requirements"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Parents seeking transparency
- National security interests
Likely Burden Bearers
- K-12 schools with foreign partnerships
- School districts (compliance burden)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "secretary"
- → Secretary of Education
- "local_educational_agency"
- → Local educational agencies (school districts)
- "state_educational_agency"
- → State educational agencies
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A foreign country or dependent territory, excluding U.S. outlying areas
As defined in Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 USC 19221) - includes entities from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology