Parents group calls on Congress to examine fed funding of science academies

By Tate Rosentreter
The Center Square

The American Parents Coalition is calling on Congress to examine federal funding of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, stating in its letter that the organization pushes “radical” political ideology onto schoolchildren nationwide with tax dollars.

Executive director of American Parents Coalition Alleigh Marré told The Center Square that “taxpayer dollars should never support institutions that promote political activism.”

“Instead of acting upon its intended mission to promote STEM programs for future generations, NASEM is focused on ‘equity in STEM,’ transgender ideology, and climate activism in classrooms,” Marré said.

“Parents deserve accountability and transparency when it comes to what their dollars are being used for and what is being taught to their children,” Marré said.

“Congress must investigate NASEM’s funding and practices,” Marré said.

American Parents Coalition’s letter was sent to Congressman Brian Babin, chairman of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

Neither NASEM nor Babin responded to The Center Square’s requests for comment.

The letter stated that while “NASEM receives hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding every year,” it has “transformed itself into a platform for pushing radical political agendas into K–12 classrooms across America.”

“These are taxpayer dollars entrusted to an institution whose stated mandate is to provide independent, nonpartisan scientific guidance,” the letter said.

“Instead, NASEM has funneled resources toward left-wing advocacy organizations that push explicitly political agendas onto students and publicly share resources filled with extreme political ideology,” the letter said.

NASEM has promoted “a specific climate agenda and so-called ‘environmental justice’ curricula in K–12 schools,” according to the letter.

One organization that NASEM funds is EcoRise, which “distributes lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school students in which students ‘discover how they can help dismantle and counteract damage caused by systemic racism,’” the letter said.

The letter also touched on NASEM’s promotion of gender ideology to schools.

“NASEM’s 2023 workshop ‘Supporting the Health and Well-Being of Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth’ encouraged schools to use ‘affirming pronouns’ and to validate students’ self-declared gender identities, even when parents object or refuse to do so,” the letter said.

As Marré also noted, NASEM last year published a report “laced with racially and ideologically charged rhetoric” entitled “Equity in K–12 STEM Education: Framing Decisions for the Future,” the letter said.

The letter stated that “NASEM’s workshops, curricula partnerships, and DEI-framed publications appear to be in direct conflict with” federal directives.

NASEM has come under fire lately from Consumers’ Research for promoting woke ideology with tax dollars, as well as faced scrutiny from state attorneys general for refusing to remove climate agenda from a judicial manual.

NASEM was founded to advise the government on issues related to science, engineering and medicine, according to its website.