CLASS Act Mandates Disclosure of Foreign Funds Over $10,000 in Public Schools

The "Combating the Lies of Authoritarians in School Systems Act," or CLASS Act, is pretty straightforward: If a public K-12 school gets federal money and receives over $10,000 from a foreign source, they have to report it. Same goes for contracts with foreign entities worth over $10,000. This info goes straight to the Secretary of Education within 30 days of the deal. (Section 2)

Show Me the Money: What Needs to be Disclosed?

So, what exactly needs to be reported? The school has to disclose who the foreign source is (name and country), how much money changed hands, and any strings attached to the funds or contracts. Think of it like this: if a tech company in China donates $15,000 to a school for new computers, that school needs to let the Department of Education know. Or, if a school contracts with a foreign publisher for textbooks, and the contract is valued over $10k, that's reportable too.

The $10,000 Question: Is that Threshold Too Low?

While transparency is generally a good thing, the $10,000 threshold raises an eyebrow. For a large school district, $10,000 is a drop in the bucket. This low limit could mean a lot of paperwork for schools, even for relatively minor transactions. It might catch, for example, a small donation from a Canadian alumni group or a modest purchase of educational materials from a British supplier. Are we creating busywork for school administrators?

The Big Picture: Transparency vs. Burden

This bill is all about transparency and potentially guarding against foreign influence in our schools. Parents and taxpayers get a clearer picture of where school funding is coming from. The Department of Education gets a better handle on the extent of foreign financial involvement in education. However, the practical impact hinges on whether the added transparency outweighs the administrative burden placed on schools. It also remains to be seen if this disclosure will actually deter any unwanted influence, or if entities determined to exert influence will simply find ways around the reporting requirement (like breaking up donations into smaller chunks). The bill does use existing definitions from other education and finance laws, so it is at least consistent in its language (Section 2, referencing the General Education Provisions Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, title 31 of the United States Code, and the Higher Education Act of 1965).