Utah Rep. Burgess Owens is spearheading an effort to restrict federal funds from going toward certain topics in schools, specifically surrounding gender and racial ideologies, according to bill text first viewed by the Deseret News.
Owens introduced the Civics and History Advancement to Restore Learning, Integrity, and Education Act — or the CHARLIE Act, named after the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk — that would block funding for American history and civics lessons amplifying those topics. The bill is part of a larger effort to redirect schools toward teaching more traditional frameworks in classes rather than focusing on what Republicans consider divisive ideology.
“Thomas Jefferson warned us that a nation cannot be ignorant and free. My friend Charlie Kirk spent his life proving Jefferson right,” Owens said in a statement. “He did more to educate young Americans about their country than any other person in public life. He pressed them to think for themselves and have spirited debates, making the case day in and day out that the principles enshrined in our founding documents mean something and that we can’t afford to squander the incredible inheritance gifted to us by the Founders.”
The bill would specifically amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to implement the funding restrictions. In doing so, the bill would codify language from two of President Donald Trump’s executive orders defining “gender ideology” and “discriminatory equity ideology.”
The first strictly defines sex as either biological male or female based on one’s identity “at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell,” according to the executive order. As a result, Owens’ bill could restrict funds from being used for curriculum involving gender identity education or discussions about gender as being separate from one’s biological sex.
The second definition has to do with race and would codify definitions from a separate executive order from Trump that defines discriminatory equity ideology as any teaching that “treats individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups, rather than as individuals, and minimizes agency, merit, and capability in favor of immoral generalizations.”
That could restrict federal funding for curriculum that insinuates the United States has a history of being fundamentally oppressive or that one demographic is responsible for discrimination toward another, among other things.
The executive order also sought to crack down on any language that asserts an individual is “inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously” based on their race or sex; or that one’s moral character is deemed privileged or oppressed based on “the individual’s race, color, sex, or national origin.”
That language would likely restrict what lessons can be taught based on diversity, equity, and inclusion or curriculum on systemic racism.
“That is real civics education, not the propaganda and subtle indoctrination that the left used to prioritize ideology over education by funneling taxpayer dollars to promote divisive and debunked racial falsehoods, radical gender ideology, and political activism,” Owens said. “We’re putting an end to that once and for all with the CHARLIE Act.”
The bill would also restrict how federal education grants are prioritized, removing any preferences “on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or immigration status.” Those restrictions would apply to who runs the organization requesting the grant, who the organization serves, and the activities proposed in the grant application.
Those restrictions come in response to controversial decisions by the Biden administration to implement DEI, social-emotional learning, and restorative justice standards in schools. Those grant applications also promoted the use of the 1619 Project, a curriculum that takes a critical view of the founding of the United States, and works of Ibram X. Kendi, a self-described anti-racist activist.
The bill is scheduled to be considered by the House Education and Workforce Committee as soon as next week, a source familiar with the schedule told the Deseret News.