Institute and state partners outline multi-year civics curriculum, campus grants

The committee heard an update on a multi-year civics education initiative led by the Institute for Advancing American Values in partnership with Boise State University and the State Board of Education.

Andrew Finstwene said the initiative will extend curriculum and co-curricular activities seeded at Boise State to 4‑year and 2‑year institutions statewide to improve civic knowledge and engagement. He introduced 'Reading the Republic,' a public-facing set of primary documents and guided discussion prompts to be hosted online and available for community discussion and classroom use.

Deputy Secretary of State Matthew Reibert and Treasurer Ellsworth clarified funding: Treasurer Ellsworth said the legislature appropriated $650,000 to Boise State University to support this work; Finstwene described a proposed distribution of up to $50,000 to each 4‑year institution and up to $25,000 to each 2‑year institution to support implementation and programming.

Finstwene said the program is designed to be a sustainable, five-year coordinated effort to raise civic knowledge, using online open educational resources and community engagement tools tied to the Foundations of Freedom exhibit tour. Committee members asked for a clearer institutional split and requested documentation of the planned distribution.