The Intelligence community’s conclusion the Russian government meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election may soon be taught in California schools if a Democratic state assemblyman has his say.
Assembly member Marc Levine of California’s 10th District plans to introduce a bill in the coming weeks that would require the state to educate students with respect to what the U.S. intelligence community has described as a Kremlin-directed influence campaign aimed at getting Donald Trump elected president.
“Students need to understand how [President] Trump’s policies are colored by the way he rose to power,” Mr. Levine, 42, told The Hill on Monday.
“We have a duty to history to make it remember the Kremlin’s decision to hand pick a candidate,” said the Marin County lawmaker.
The U.S. intelligence community did not conclude the Russian involvement impacted the outcome of the election.
Previewing his proposal in a statement last week, Mr. Levine said his bill would direct the State Board of Education “to develop curriculum to educate California students about Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.”
“California is the largest textbook market in the nation. Textbooks approved in our state are used throughout the country. Through this legislation, we can make sure students in California and across the United States receive accurate information about the 2016 Presidential election,” he said.
“It’s been said the winners write the history books, and we’ve already heard President-elect Trump talk about his landslide victory, which is certainly not the case,” Mr. Levine told the Petaluma Press Democrat on Monday.
The U.S. intelligence community has concluded with “high confidence” that “Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election,” the likes of which involved compromising the email accounts of various Democratic officials through Moscow-sanctioned hacking campaigns and then supplying their stolen correspondence to websites including WikiLeaks.
According to Mr. Levine, the findings are worthy of being brought to light in California classrooms alongside other events of historical importance.
“The work of 17 intelligence agencies including the FBI and CIA confirmed Russian interference in our election. This is a threat to our democracy and must be treated with appropriate significance in American history,” he said.
Mr. Levine said his bill will be called the Pravda Act of 2017, a reference to the Russian word for “truth” as well as the Soviet-era propaganda outlet that continues to tow the Kremlin line.
Another California lawmaker, meanwhile, wants educators to begin devoting class time toward a different topic that dominated last year’s election cycle: fake news.
Democratic State Senator Bill Dodd of Napa proposed legislation of his own this month that would direct the Board of Education to ensure media literacy is incorporated into school curriculums.
“The rise of fake and misleading news is deeply concerning. Even more concerning is the lack of education provided to ensure that people can distinguish what is fact and what’s not,” Mr. Dodd said in a statement. “Through new technology, news has never been more readily available. However, the quality of that information varies widely. By giving students the proper tools to analyze the media they consume, we can empower them to make informed decisions.”
Mr. Putin has repeatedly denied Russia used hacking or other tactics to interfere in last year’s White House race.
Although Mr. Trump has been skeptical of the intelligence community’s findings, he said earlier this month he believes Russia hacked various U.S. targets in the run-up to his election.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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