Some Republican Congress members from the state of New York have called on Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul to provide answers on whether the Chinese Communist Party is influencing and even funding public schools in the state.
A letter sent from the New York Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives came after a report from a group known as Parents Defending Education documented that the CCP has directed millions to K-12 classrooms throughout America.
The report, called the “Little Red Classrooms,” cited various evidence that linked the Chinese Communist Party to K-12 schools in the U.S. The report shows that students have been subjected to propaganda about China, as well as culture and language programming through school programs that are funded by the state.
PDE is a grassroots organization that states that its mission is to fight indoctrination in America’s classrooms.
The report found that programs that have been managed and vetted by the government in China have infiltrated a total of 34 states as well as Washington, D.C. In total, that has impacted roughly 170,000 students in 143 different school districts.
As a result of this report, the New York Republicans want answers on how this has impacted New York’s schools. In their letter to Hochul, they wrote:
“Unfortunately, this investigation discovered 12 school systems in our own state have received money from the CCP. This includes the New York City Department of Education, which received $375,575 in CCP-connected funding. Considering China’s adversarial relationship with the United States, this is deeply problematic and presents a national security concern for our constituents and state.”
The Republicans from New York who signed onto the letter include Representatives Anthony D’Esposito, Marc Molinaro, Mike Lawler, Claudia Tenney, Nicole Malliotakis, Elise Stefanik and Brandon Williams.
In a separate statement sent to Fox News Digital, Stefanik said that the CCP is working to invade classrooms in America by funneling more than $17 million from financial institutions in China. As she said in the statement:
“New York’s Far Left Democratic leaders like Governor Hochul are asleep at the wheel. Instead of prioritizing their Far Left Wishlist, they should be putting an immediate stop to the flow of cash for CCP access to the 12 New York school systems including the New York Department of Education. This alarming discovery is an egregious breach of both our national security and an attempt by China to indoctrinate our next generation.”
The letter sent by the GOP members demands that Hochul do something to prevent China from influencing the state’s school systems. They want the DOE in New York to collect data from all its public school districts on programming and funding that is provided by any organization that’s known to also be funded by a foreign entity.
Williams himself has also taken other steps to address this issue. He recently introduced the Stop Funding Our Adversaries Act in the House, which would, among other things, stop funneling taxpayer dollars to any program that includes research being conducted with China.
