To prohibit the availability of Federal education funds for elementary and secondary schools that receive direct or indirect support from the Government of the People’s Republic of China.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The PROTECT Our Kids Act makes federal education funds unavailable to any elementary or secondary school with a partnership in effect with a cultural or language institute directly or indirectly funded by the Government of the People's Republic of China, including a Confucius Institute; that operates a PRC-supported Confucius Classroom; or that otherwise receives PRC-linked support in the form of teaching materials, personnel, funds, or other resources. The prohibition takes effect one year after enactment. Schools with preexisting covered contracts may request a waiver by submitting the complete unredacted contract, an English translation if needed, and a statement showing the contract benefits the school's mission and students and promotes U.S. security, stability, and economic vitality.
Who Benefits and How
Parents, local school boards, schools without PRC-linked support, national-security policy advocates, Department of Education oversight staff, state education agencies, and U.S.-based curriculum providers benefit from a funding rule that pressures K-12 schools to end Confucius Institute, Confucius Classroom, and other PRC-backed support relationships. The bill uses federal funds as leverage to separate public school programs from PRC government influence.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Elementary and secondary schools with PRC-backed partnerships, Confucius Institutes, Confucius Classrooms, PRC-funded cultural and language institutes, school district administrators, foreign-language program coordinators, and the Secretary of Education must terminate covered support, seek waivers for old contracts, produce complete contracts and translations, assess U.S. security and economic-vitality claims, and issue compliance notice and guidance within 90 days.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits federal education funds for schools with PRC-funded cultural or language institute partnerships, including Confucius Institutes.
- Prohibits federal education funds for schools operating PRC-supported Confucius Classrooms.
- Prohibits covered schools from receiving PRC-linked teaching materials, personnel, funds, or other resources through direct or indirect support.
- Provides a one-year delayed effective date and a waiver path for certain pre-enactment contracts.
- Requires waiver requests to include complete unredacted contracts, English translations when needed, and statements on school mission, students, U.S. security, stability, and economic vitality.
- Requires the Education Secretary to provide schools notice and compliance guidance within 90 days.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Bars federal education funds for K-12 schools that maintain PRC-funded cultural institute partnerships, Confucius Classrooms, or other direct or indirect support from PRC-linked actors, with a one-year effective date, limited contract waivers, and Education Department guidance.
Key Policy Areas
Education, Foreign Influence, China
Primary Purpose
Bars federal education funds for K-12 schools that maintain PRC-funded cultural institute partnerships, Confucius Classrooms, or other direct or indirect support from PRC-linked actors, with a one-year effective date, limited contract waivers, and Education Department guidance.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Parents
- Local school boards
- Schools without PRC-linked support
- National-security policy advocates
- Department of Education oversight staff
- U.S.-based curriculum providers
Identified Costs
- Schools with PRC-backed partnerships
- Confucius Institutes
- Confucius Classrooms
- PRC-funded cultural institutes
- School district administrators
- Foreign-language program coordinators
- Secretary of Education
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Passed HouseReceived; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, …
Passed House (inferred from eh version)
Additional sponsor: Mr. Barr
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the …
Mr. Hern of Oklahoma (for himself and Mr. Kiley of …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Confucius Classrooms, Confucius Institutes, Schools with PRC-backed partnerships
On Passage
PROTECT Our Kids Act
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "confucius_classroom"
- → A learning center directly or indirectly supported by the Government of the People's Republic of China.
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