Current:Home > Contact-usHearing on hot-button education issues signals Nebraska conservatives’ plans for next year-InfoLens
Hearing on hot-button education issues signals Nebraska conservatives’ plans for next year
View Date:2025-01-12 06:57:20
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Just two months after one of Nebraska’s most contentious legislative sessions, lawmakers signaled Monday that more angry debate is likely next year over legislation to determine how schools deal with race, LGBTQ+ issues and other hot-button issues that have proved divisive in other Republican-controlled states like Florida.
Sen. Dave Murman, the conservative chairman of the Nebraska Legislature’s Education Committee, held a hearing that mostly discussed the use in schools of social-emotional learning, or SEL, that has become a lightning rod among conservatives who say schools use it to promote progressive ideas about race, gender and sexuality, and that a focus on students’ well-being takes attention away from academics.
The decades-old concept seeks to teach students how to manage their emotions, make good decisions, share and collaborate. But several witnesses invited by Murman made far-fetched claims that it’s being used to teach critical race theory in public schools, is part of a conspiracy to mine private student data and is even being used a form of “mind control.”
Murman, a farmer from Glenvil, took over as chairman of the committee last year, when Republicans in the officially nonpartisan, one-chamber Legislature ousted a Democratic former schoolteacher from the post in what was widely seen as an effort by conservatives to “crack and pack” key committees to get more of their bills to the floor for debate.
That included education bills. A bill to allow taxpayer money to be used to fund private school scholarships did eventually pass. But others stalled, including a so-called parents rights bill by Murman to make it easier for parents to object to curriculum and remove books from school libraries.
Murman’s hearing Monday was an indication he will seek to revive that bill when the new session begins in January.
One of those invited to speak was Nebraska Board of Education member Kirk Penner, who noted that he was testifying for himself and not speaking for the board. He leveled accusations of pornography littering the shelves of public school libraries and accused administrators of pushing critical race theory — an academic theory that centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions. He also advocated for passage of the parents rights bill.
Another witness, retired Kearney pediatrician Sue Greenwald, testified on behalf of a conspiracy-based political action committee she founded, the Protect Nebraska Children Coalition. She wove a convoluted tale that social-emotional learning is part of an agenda funded by global organizations who pay kickbacks to school administrators with the intention of indoctrinating students into everything from Marxist ideology to questioning their sexual orientation.
“I know I’m sounding like a crazy conspiracy theorist now,” Greenwald said. “But children are being given an employability score that will be used against them in 20 years.”
Asked seconds later about those conspiracies, she replied, “When the crazy people speak, you should believe them.”
Some of the most controversial testimony came from Murman himself, when he was asked by fellow Sen. Danielle Conrad if he agreed with recently approved Florida education standards that teach that slaves benefited from the skills they learned while enslaved.
“Slavery is wrong; there’s no doubt about that. But we all benefit from our background,” Murman replied, eliciting groans from the crowd.
Aggravated by the bent of the hearing, several left-leaning lawmakers held a competing public forum just down the hall in the Capitol in which the public was invited to express its views on social-emotional learning. A couple of dozen people turned out, with several criticizing conservatives who use phrases like “woke agenda” and words such as “groomers” and “indoctrination” to describe the state’s public education system and teachers.
Charlie Yale, 17, who is entering his senior year at Omaha Central High School next month, called out conservatives’ characterization of social-emotional learning as “simply not the truth.”
“For them, it’s not about education,” he said. “It’s about trying to turn Nebraska into the next Florida.”
veryGood! (1661)
Related
- All the Ways Megan Fox Hinted at Her Pregnancy With Machine Gun Kelly
- Replacing Tom Brady: Tampa Bay Buccaneers appoint Baker Mayfield as starting quarterback
- Federal legislation proposed to protect Coast Guard Academy cadets who file sexual assault reports
- Powerball jackpot reaches $291 million ahead of Monday's drawing. See winning numbers for Aug. 21.
- Old Navy's Early Black Friday Deals Start at $1.97 -- Get Holiday-Ready Sweaters, Skirts, Puffers & More
- Flood-ravaged Vermont waits for action from a gridlocked Congress
- Georgia father named as person of interest in 2-year-old son's disappearance
- Jennifer Aniston Details How Parents' Divorce Impacted Her Own Approach to Relationships
- Melissa Gilbert recalls 'painful' final moment with 'Little House' co-star Michael Landon
- Angelina Jolie Gets Her Middle Fingers Tattooed With Mystery Message
Ranking
- Pete Alonso's best free agent fits: Will Mets bring back Polar Bear?
- Highway through Washington’s North Cascades National Park to reopen as fires keep burning
- Kerry Washington, Martin Sheen shout for solidarity between Hollywood strikers and other workers
- Pakistani rescuers try to free 6 kids and 2 men in a cable car dangling hundreds of feet in the air
- The Daily Money: All about 'Doge.'
- Rumer Willis Admits Her Baby Girl's Name Came From Text Typo
- I'm a new dad. Here's why I'm taking more parental leave than my wife.
- UW System to ask lawmakers for part of $32 million GOP withheld to end diversity efforts in October
Recommendation
-
Veterans face challenges starting small businesses but there are plenty of resources to help
-
Want to tune in for the first GOP presidential debate? Here’s how to watch
-
Demi Lovato, Karol G and More Stars Set to Perform at 2023 MTV Video Music Awards
-
Death Valley, known for heat and drought, got about a year's worth of rain in a day from Hilary
-
Elena Rose has made hits for JLo, Becky G and more. Now she's stepping into the spotlight.
-
1 in 5 women report mistreatment from medical staff during pregnancy
-
Poland’s leader says Russia’s moving tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, shifting regional security
-
Pets not welcome? Publix posts signs prohibiting pets and emotional support animals