WASHINGTON - The Department of Education is bringing in over 40 conservative groups to launch a civic education initiative it says will renew patriotism and increase knowledge of the nation's founding principles.

The department did not specify exactly what initiatives the groups would undertake but said the “America 250 Civics Education Coalition,” will be spearheaded by the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank founded by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

The involved groups include the 1776 Project Foundation, whose affiliated PAC ran a nationwide campaign to oust school board members they alleged were in favor of racial and social justice lessons. It also includes Moms for Liberty, a Florida-based group that has targeted school board members, advocated for book bans and does not have to disclose its donors.

Others include Turning Point USA, the college advocacy group founded by the late Charlie Kirk; the Heritage Foundation, a right-leaning think tank and the lead sponsor of Project 2025; Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school in Michigan, and the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a free market group with roots in the Tea Party movement that also opposes abortion and same-sex marriage.

They plan to visit K-12 schools in all 50 states, hold a competition between students on American history and launch a college speaker series that'll focus on America's "core rights and values."

Aiden Buzzetti, the president of the 1776 Project Foundation, told USA TODAY that his group created a resolution that school board members can adopt that calls for events such as assemblies to celebrate the country’s 250-year anniversary. He said he also expects his group to get involved in the initiative’s college speaker series.

“More than ever, we need to restore the vitality of the American spirit, and this coalition will take bold steps to educate, inspire, and mobilize youth toward active and informed citizenship,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.

The Education Department did not respond to USA TODAY's inquiry seeking more information about the initiative.

During his first term, Trump established the 1776 Commission in response to The New York Times' 1619 Project, a Pulitzer Prize-winning initiative that argued that America's true founding started when the first slave ship came to the colonies from Africa. Trump criticized the Times' work as "toxic propaganda" and "ideological poison.”

The commission in 2021 issued a report that argued the country must return to “patriotic education” in schools and for American families to “raise up morally responsible citizens who love America.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Education Department to oversee initiative promoting 'patriotism' and 'civic knowledge'

Reporting by Sudiksha Kochi and Erin Mansfield, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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