Washington, D.C. – This week, Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee Ranking Member Burgess Owens, Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks, and Committee on Education and Labor Republican Leader Dr. Virginia Foxx sent letters to the American Federation of Teachers and NewsGuard Inc. seeking additional information on the January 25th agreement that would put NewsGuard’s ‘anti-misinformation’ product in the classrooms of AFT’s more than 1.6 million members.
The letter seeks information on the agreement, the application of NewsGuard’s product in the classroom, and the extent to which local officials and parents were consulted about the rollout.
“The collaboration between Randi Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers and NewsGuard is not an honest attempt to separate fact from fiction. It’s yet another coordinated effort to politicize our academic institutions. Using biased ratings to referee free expression and opposing political viewpoints is un-American and harms the education of our children. I’m proud to work with Ranking Member Foxx and Chairman Banks to call out this alarming partnership.” – Rep. Burgess Owens
“The left is obsessed with indoctrinating kids. AFT has decided that NewsGuard, whose leadership falsely dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop story as ‘Russian disinformation,’ deserves to be empowered to tell children what is and isn’t ‘misinformation.’ Political advocacy groups should focus on people who are old enough to vote. They have no place in taxpayer funded public schools. House Republicans must use our oversight power to keep politics out of classrooms, and I am pleased to partner with Ranking Member Foxx and Rep. Owens on this important effort.” – Rep. Jim Banks
“We can’t let this kind of left-wing propaganda into our schools, or let groups condemn so-called ‘misinformation’ while peddling it themselves. I’m not surprised that AFT is teaming up with an organization that ranks Chinese state-run media sites higher than American conservative sites, but I refuse to let it happen without a fight. AFT has long demonstrated that its priority is politics, not education. It is painfully clear that NewsGuard does not have the judgement necessary to teach our nation’s children how to tell truth from fiction.” – Dr. Virginia Foxx
Find a PDF of their letter to AFT here and NewsGuard here.
###