Here’s how state, federal governments promote patriotic civic education

Governments have taken a range of actions at the federal and state levels to promote civic education in the U.S. over the past several years.

The Trump administration’s Department of Education awarded grants to promote civic education in 2025. Moreover, states including Texas, Florida, Louisiana and Utah have advanced patriotic themes within their education systems.

“To know America is to love America. When only 1 in 4 of our nation’s eighth graders is proficient in civics, that’s a failure we cannot afford to accept,” Savannah Newhouse, Education Department Press Secretary, told The Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement.

“As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday, we have an obligation to renew understanding of the history and ideals that have made our nation exceptional. A strong civic education and pride of country are not threats to a free republic — they are essential to its survival,” Newhouse added.

In 2025, Florida passed a statute requiring patriotic education, adding mandatory pledge allegiance to our flag alongside education about the founding and its documents.

One of the goals for students of the Florida Department of Education is to have “an understanding of civic-minded expectations, developed by the State Board of Education, of an upright and desirable citizenry that recognizes and accepts responsibility for preserving and defending the blessings of liberty inherited from prior generations and secured by the United States Constitution,” the statute states.

Texas’s 1836 project, established in House Bill 2497 around 2022, works on promoting a patriotic education. The curriculum centers on the history from pre-colonial times to today, according to the 1836 pamphlet.

“We should ask a simple question: Do our students understand the history, principles, and sacrifices that made 250 years of American freedom possible?”

Read my op-ed on @TXSBOE’s historic vote shaping the trajectory of Texas education: https://t.co/N9NjV5KfJG #txed #txlege pic.twitter.com/RLQz8AfXrz

— Aaron Kinsey (@AaronKinseyTX) July 1, 2026

In Louisiana, two bills were passed back in 2022, establishing Freedom Week in schools and also welcoming patriotic organizations that provide civics education.

Utah has successfully passed multiple bills improving its civic education over recent years. Per the state’s 2021 Civic Thought and Leadership Initiative, universities are now required to have nonpartisan discussions about politics.

In September 2025, the U.S. Department of Education gave $153 million in grants to American History and Civics Seminar, according to the department press release.

“To truly understand American values, the tireless work it has taken to live up to them, and this country’s exceptional place in world history is the best way to inspire an informed patriotism and love of country,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Education Week.

Over the past year, around 40 states considered over 245 bills concerning K-12 civic education this school year, according to CivxNow, a non-profit that advocates for civic education.

“Civic education, in its modern conception, is not a static subject defined by memorization but a dynamic process aimed at cultivating competent, responsible and engaged citizens,” GovFacts.org wrote. “Its ultimate purpose is to equip individuals with the knowledge, skills and character traits necessary to sustain and improve a constitutional democracy.”

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