The Department of Education has recently announced the America 250 Civics Education Coalition, an effort to infuse lessons on civics back into American classrooms. While this new coalition aims to produce tons of nationwide programs, including state tours, lectures, student competitions and teacher summits for people to discuss and debate, this development only builds on other actions that President Donald Trump has taken in his tenure, relating to education.

In his first term, Trump established “The President’s Advisory 1776 Commission.” While that Commission was charged with advising him on “how to better enable a rising generation to understand the history and principles of the founding of the United States,” some of his more recent actions have only advanced his education agenda that was built on promises that he made on the campaign trail, including pledges to “make our college campuses safe and patriotic again,” to end “wokeness” and “left-wing indoctrination” in education and to “send education back to the states.”

However, in his current term, Trump has taken additional actions that focus specifically on education in several key ways.

In January, he signed Executive Order 14190, titled: “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.” The order sought to “ensure that recipients of Federal funds providing K-12 education comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination in various contexts and protecting parental rights, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” Then in March, he signed a separate order to begin returning power to state governments by beginning to cut down the Department of Education.

While some Americans are critical, and others vocalize their full support of the Trump administration’s approach, the U.S. Department of Education has added more content for us to debate with the announcement of the “America 250 Civics Education Coalition.”

On the Department of Education’s website for the announcement, it states that the Coalition brings together “more than 40 leading national and state-based organizations.” The website also adds that the Coalition is “dedicated to renewing patriotism, strengthening civic knowledge, and advancing a shared understanding of America’s founding principles in schools across the nation.”

While a journalist at The New York Times wrote that Trump is “portraying himself as a defender of American heritage against revolutionary fanatics and arguing for a new ‘pro-American’ curriculum in the nation’s schools,” there’s another side to the story beyond what left-leaning individuals might add to this statement.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon commented on the Coalition, stating, “A country cannot survive if its values are forgotten by its people. 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.”

McMahon added that the coalition will “ensure every young American understands the beauty of our nation and is equipped with the civic knowledge required to contribute meaningfully to its future.”

However, the bombshell in the announcement of the Coalition is the fact that 40 organizations are aiding in the formation and execution of the America 250 Civics Education Coalition.

Amongst those is the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit research and policy organization. On AFPI’s website about the Coalition, it offers clarifications about how their partnership with the Department of Education “is committed to advancing civic education as a cornerstone of our nation’s strength and vitality,” and is helping to organize “nationwide programs including state tours, lectures, student competitions, and teacher summits.”

While it is unprecedented that a federal organization has wrangled together this many organizations for a common purpose, there’s one roadblock that could stop the Coalition before it even begins.

That block is the 1979 Department of Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. § 3403(b)). Specifically, this U.S. Code established the Department of Education states that the Department of Education does not have the authority to “exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system.”

With this alone, you could then assume that the Department of Education is acting unlawfully. However, just as any attorney will tell you when discussing legal matters, it depends.

So far, there haven’t been any legal complaints filed against either the Trump Administration or the Department of Education over the formation of the Coalition. A good reason why is likely because the public doesn’t have specific information about how the Coalition will actually operate.

It was just announced that there are limited details outside of its listed mission and goals, and there is no evidence that suggests the Coalition is acting outside of its allowed parameters.

Above all, the Coalition hasn’t even stated whether  schools, like K-12 institutions or colleges and universities, will be required to participate.

If they do require participation, then by all means, there’s probably a lawsuit coming. However, if the Department of Education is sued, there’s a strong argument that they could use to defend themselves in a legal battle.

While it should be noted that bringing in outside partners is a new one for the Department of Education, the fact is that education initiatives aren’t unprecedented. Some examples that strengthen the legality of Trump’s Coalition include prior actions the Department of Education has taken, including: former President Barack Obama’s “Road Map” initiative, former President George W. Bush’s Civic Education Initiatives, the “GEAR UP” initiative under former President Bill Clinton, and others.

The bottom line is that if critics want to attack Trump, they’d also be attacking any prior and future presidential actions relating to education, and discouraging future administrations from taking action.

Regardless of the politics on this development, we need to remember that civic education and literacy in America are declining. While people are more than free to critique administrations on the politics that they suspect actions are motivated by, we can’t afford to lose more time solving the issue. Students need to know about our country’s history, laws and systems of government.