Nebraska educators and parents squabble over proposed ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’
LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska) — For years, classrooms and school board meetings have been the vanguard of a clash between professional educators and conservative parents who seek greater control over what their children are taught.
“Educators should be restricted from wasting valuable school time indoctrinating students from the CRT, CSE or SEL,” said Robbie Adams, a witness in support of LB374.
The increased scrutiny for parents may come from LB374, represented by Education Committee Chairman Dave Moorman.
The bill establishes a bill of rights for parents that gives parents the right to view digital copies of all teaching materials that may be used in the classroom this year, a process for appealing materials that parents may find inappropriate, and allows parents to reject their students. content or activities that they consider inappropriate.
“Today, we ask our legislators to protect our children and my grandchildren and not give in to the pressures of the educational bureaucracy of teacher unions and large public education organizations,” said Bill Forbes, the grandparent who testified in support of LB374.
Although the bill is focused on education, there were very few educators present at the hearings in support of the bill.
In particular, the mechanism he uses to keep teachers in line with parents’ wishes has been a major concern for educators in hearings.
“Is it really good public policy to allow parents to sue a school because they don’t like this or that book in the school library? Should we give the single parent the right to dictate education to all of our children,” said Dr. Shavonne Holman of Omaha Public Schools.
Opponents also argued that the Portal of Transparency would place too much extra work on already overworked teachers and create an environment where one frustrated parent could dictate the learning environment for all the kids in the class.
But at the heart of the problem for many educators lies the bill’s message: You can’t rely on Nebraska’s hard-working teachers to teach our students.
“We have just emerged from a pandemic with educators turning heaven and earth to keep our children safe and able to learn in our buildings. Instead of receiving any thanks, the chairman of the education committee introduced a bill that our teachers cannot be trusted,” said Tim Royer, president of the Millard Education Association.
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