This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Research by an organization called Parents Defending Education has identified 143 K-12 schools spread across America that now are linked to the Chinese Communist Party.

The group's report was profiled by the Washington Stand, which said the "Confucius Classrooms" program is nothing less than a scheme "to infiltrate schools with communist propaganda."

"While Confucius Institutes (CIs) have long been associated with colleges and universities in the U.S., Confucius Classrooms are aimed at K-12 schools and are touted as 'centers that teach Chinese language and culture,'" the Stand reported.

But, it noted, the parent's organization has identified dozens and dozens of schools in partnerships with the Chinese elites.

Involved are some of the nation's top tech academies, as well as districts near 20 U.S. military bases, the report explained.

The Stand explained, "From 2009 to 2023, Parents Defending Education found a total of almost $18 million in Chinese government funding of U.S. K-12 schools through the program. For example, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., 'received more than $1 million in financial aid from Chinese government-affiliated entities over the course of a decade.'"

Nicki Neily, chief of the parents' organization, told a program of "Washington Watch" that President Donald Trump's administration was successful in its war on Confucius Institutes, China's propaganda machines at colleges, because disclosure of funding and links was required under the Higher Education Act.

But the report said K-12 schools are not bound by the same demands.

Neily said, during the program, "[F]righteningly, I think this is only the tip of the iceberg."

The problem is not that U.S. students may learn the Chinese language or more, but it's the "motivations" that the Communist Party has in reaching into American schools.

"We’re just saying parents should know who is funding and who is teaching our students, particularly if they come from a hostile nation so that parents can make an informed decision whether they want their children to participate in these programs or not. Some of the contracts that we saw gave the Chinese government … oversight and control over curriculum [and] over teachers that came over," she explained.

It was former Chinese Communist Party Senior Chairman Li Changchun who confirmed, back in 2009, that the college institutes are created to be "part of China’s overseas propaganda set-up."

The Stand reported Gordon Chang, a distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, said such programs trace back to China's Ministry of Education, but those really in control are in the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department.