Civics education: ‘With those rights come lots of responsibilities’

State School Superintendent Richard Woods supports Representative Woodall's push to provide $30 million to shore up civics education

A federal bill supported by 7th District Rep. Rob Woodall could lead to $30 million in funding to be used for civics education in schools across the country.Woodall recently cosponsored the Civil Learning Act of 2019, HR 849, which was sponsored by Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Democrat representing Florida’s 20th Congressional District. Woodall said the bipartisan bill would strengthen civics education efforts at the local level and would not be a top-down mandate from the federal government.
“The pilot project aspect of this is really important,” Woodall said. “So often, what divides Republicans and Democrats is writing that giant check and putting a federal mandate out there that you have to run your local school system this way. I reject that model, so this program is entirely optional, voluntary, participatory, designed to find those people that want to succeed in this area and helping them with the money to succeed.”

Georgia State Schools Superintendent Richard Woods, a former social studies teacher, said he supported efforts to “increase awareness of civics to our young people” and liked the flexibility of the proposal.
“I think it allows us to better address needs,” Woods said. “Not being a one-size-fits-all. We have roughly 180 school districts and 2,300 schools. The needs look different going from school to school and district to district, so I think having that flexibility is very welcome, but it also builds upon our civic engagement diploma seal for our high school students as well and really allows us to address some issues at the lower elementary level, as well.”

​Read more: https://www.forsythnews.com/local/local-government/with-those-rights-come-lots-of-responsibilities-woodall-cosponsors-bill-to-provide-30-million-for-nationwide-civics-education/