PLEASANTON -- A future crop of civic minds could lose a teaching tool that has helped young people understand democracy and the U.S. political system for the past two decades.

Bay Area high school students and educators are part of a national push to try to re-establish funding for the We the People civics program that fell victim to federal budget cuts in April.

The Center for Civic Education, which sponsors the We the People program, is a nonpartisan nonprofit that offers programs for students and teachers related to civics in every congressional district in the country. Three years ago, Congress altered the definition of an earmark as any recipient of federal funds that isn't a federal entity and as a result, the center lost $26.3 million or 93 percent of its budget for next year.

The drop in funding came one month before a National Assessment of Educational Progress report was released in May and revealed that 75 percent of the country's elementary through high school students are not proficient in understanding democracy, the U.S. political system or what it means to be a citizen.

"Civic education is something we desperately need," said Charlotte Powers, a former San Jose City Council