The Teaching American History Grant Program is in Jeopardy Again. Act Now to Save It!

  |   Leave a Comment

Once again, there has been an attempt by the House of Representatives to eliminate the Teaching American History grant program.  I have blogged extensively about the threat to the TAH grants several times here at The Way of Improvement Leads Home. I also recently wrote an op-ed at Education Weekly on the subject.  See here and here and here and here and here.

If you love American history and think that our students need to learn more of it, or if you have benefited from a Teaching American History grant, either as a student, teacher, or professor, I strongly encourage you to write your Congressperson and urge him or her to keep funding for the TAH grants.  To make your job easier, the National Humanities Alliance has offered an easy way to do this:

May 17, 2011 – Legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives that would eliminate the Teaching American History (TAH) grants program at the U.S. Department of Education.  The “Setting New Priorities in Education Spending Act,” (H.R. 1891) would terminate 43 K-12 federal education programs. 

The President’s fiscal year 2012 budget request for the Department of Education would eliminate Teaching American History grants (TAH) as a separately funded program.  However, the Administration proposed consolidating history education into a new program called Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well-Rounded Education. This reflects the President’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization proposal, the Blueprint for Reform that was released in March 2010.

Teaching American History grants is the only federal program that funds K-12 history education.  Its elimination would exacerbate the problem of local school districts deemphasizing history in their curriculum because it is not the focus of high-stakes testing.

The House Education and the Workforce Committee is expected to consider H.R. 1891 at any time. Please take a few minutes to contact your Member of the House of Representatives today and them to oppose this bill. 

The Alliance has set up a template message for you to customize. We strongly encourage you to personalize this message by telling Congress why TAH programs are important to you, your institution, your field, your state, and/or district. 

Click here to take action.

RECOMMENDED READING

Josh Hawley said “folks should look and see what’s in this [bipartisan infrastructure] bill.” So I did. What is the Civics Secures Democracy Act? Biden administration backs off the 1619 Project and other anti-racist literature and language in its new American history and Civics grant program What Trillions Can’t Buy

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply