Scholars Applaud Introduction of Constitutional Literacy Bill in Michigan

 

House Bill 4829 Would Marvelously Improve Michigan’s Public K-12 Civics Education

National Association of Scholars

The National Association of Scholars (NAS) and the Civics Alliance are delighted that Michigan Representative Josh Schriver has introduced House Bill 4829 (HB 4829), otherwise known as the Constitutional Literacy Bill. The Constitutional Literacy Bill would create a required high school civics course, with prohibitions against teachers using the course to inculcate the discriminatory concepts frequently referred to as “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI). Representative Schriver’s bill would marvelously improve Michigan’s public K-12 civics education.

We are enthusiastic not least because the Constitutional Literacy Bill was significantly informed by the Civics Alliance’s model Civics Course Act. The substance of the bill’s civics instruction, for example, significantly parallels our own recommendations:

(a) The constitutional literacy course must provide instruction on at least all of the following:

(i) The intellectual sources of the United States' founding documents.

(ii) The political and military narrative of the causes and progress of the American Revolution.

(iii) The United States' founding documents and their original intent.

(iv) The Constitution of the United States, including instruction on all components of the Bill of Rights, and the state constitution of 1963.

(v) The basic principles of the United States' republican form of government.

(vi) The historical development of the United States' republican form of government.

(vii) How the United States' republican form of government compares to different forms of government including dictatorship, monarchy, oligarchy, theocracy, communism, and autocracy.

(viii) The structure, function, and processes of government institutions at the federal, state, and local levels.

(ix) Civic virtues exemplified in the lives of famous Americans.

The bill's prohibition against DEI also has been significantly informed by our model legislation. Much of HB 4829 varies from our model, which was intended to inform state legislation, not constrain it. HB 4829 includes substantial material on the dangers of Communism, the need to respect the American flag, and the honor due to veterans. We welcome these additions and we will consider adding them into our model legislation.

We advise HB 4829's sponsors that the bill has a loophole that should be mended. HB 4829 now stipulates:

(2) The board of a school district or intermediate school district or board of directors of a public school academy shall ensure that no teacher instructs pupils in material contrary to what the Constitution of the United States stands for. [Italics added.] A teacher that instructs pupils in material contrary to what the Constitution of the United States stands for is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $5,000.00 and subject to both of the following:

(a) Immediate termination from employment at the public school in which the teacher is employed.

(b) Suspension of the teacher's teaching certificate through the process described in section 1535a.

(3) If the governing body of a public school determines that students were instructed in material contrary to what the Constitution of the United States stands for, the governing body shall ensure that a constitutional educator is provided to correct any misleading educational content.

We endorse the intention of this passage, but HB 4829 does not define “material contrary to what the Constitution of the United States stands for.” That gives opponents of HB 4829 a tool to undermine it. They could, for example, claim that DEI, gender theory, etc., are “what the Constitution stands for.” We suggest that HB 4829 might be emended so that these enforcement provisions—fine, termination of employment—are attached to the prohibitions of DEI inculcation in Section 1174 of the bill, since those prohibitions precisely define the discriminatory concepts at issue.

This caution does not reduce our delight at Representative Schriver’s bill. The Constitutional Literacy Bill would restore rigorous, traditional civics education to Michigan’s public high schools. It would prohibit DEI inculcation and it would ensure that students learn about the horrors of Communism.

The Constitutional Literacy Bill needs a hearing in the Michigan House Education and Workforce Committee. We urge Michigan policymakers to pass this excellent bill into law. But as a first step, we urge Michiganders to contact State Representative Nancy DeBoer, Chair of the Education Committee, to request a public hearing on the bill.

Civics education reform is sweeping the country. HB 4829 gives Michigan a chance to join this wonderful movement to restore public K-12 instruction in America’s ideals and institutions of liberty, republican self-government, and civic virtue.

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Photo by Catherine Ottarson - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=119738017