NTF issue paper: legwatch244.doc. 10-22.
NEBRASKA TAXPAYERS FOR FREEDOM ISSUE PAPER:
CONSERVATIVE SENATORS CONFRONT STATE EDUCATION DEPT.
BACKGROUND. The NE Dept. of Education is riddled with leftists whose agendas for our public schools and our school children definitely reflect the “progressive” philosophy that abhors and dismisses traditional family values and the principle that parents have the right to actively participate in selection of educational choices and curricula for their children. Property taxpayers pay about 55%-60% of our total annual property taxes to public schools. Therefore, taxpayers and parents have a right to comment upon, influence, and decide the educational values for their children and teens. All taxpayers must take offense and take action at this latest conniving at our state education department.
THE ISSUE. Conservative State Senators Clements, Dorn, Erdman, Halloran, and Murman are calling for an investigation of our Education Dept. after the exposure of linked documents promoted statewide to educators claiming that conservatives are racists for opposing leftwing Critical Race Theory (CRT). One document offers teachers talking points about how to counter conservative criticisms of CRT and alleges that parental efforts to oppose CRT stem from insidious individuals and Pres. Trump staffers. The document titled Winning Racial Justice in Our Schools; Resisting the Right Wing Attacks on Critical Race Theory offers rebuttals to those advocating for anti-racist schools responding to attacks on CRT. “Right-wing conservatives are using simple sound bites that are based in falsehoods, activate people’s fears, and reinforce biases,” it states, “In advocating for schools to #TeachTruth, we must use a simple, powerful message that is based in truth, activates people’s vision for what our schools can be, and reinforces the desire for justice and solidarity.”1 “This effort has been conceived by former Trump strategists, funded by billionaire donors throwing tens of millions of dollars at the misinformation campaign, and managed by some of the same right-wing organizations driving racist voter suppression laws across the country,” the text reads. Following the coronavirus pandemic, the dept. created a platform called Launch Nebraska to provide public schools with re-opening guidelines. However, by the 2021-2022 school year, this website morphed into a resource for promoting CRT and other radical leftist subjects like perverted sex education standards. This radical platform substitutes indoctrination for education, distorting our nation’s founding and history. Erdman seeks an investigation into teaching CRT in our public schools. “Due to the recent underhanded tactics of the Department of Education to reform Nebraska’s sex-ed curriculum, I believe an investigation into teaching CRT in Nebraska’s public schools is now warranted,” he stated. Bottom of Form
“In our state, we’ve dealt with left-wing activist bureaucrats promoting comprehensive sex education and critical race theory in our public schools,” Murman said, adding that we must stop promotion of these reprehensible ideologies by the Dept. of Education. The legislative Education Committee likely will lead the investigation in the 2023 session. The committee will examine potential misconduct by the department, what state resources or taxpayer funds used, and what legislative solutions available to restore the dignity and trust in the dept.
DEPT. OF EDUCATION RESPONSE. After the publicizing of this Education Dept. nefarious conduct, it removed the link from its website and offered a lukewarm excuse.
THE DOCUMENT. The NYU Metro Center’s Education Justice Research and Organizing Collaborative (EJ-ROC) excitedly announced its new resource for communities resisting conservative attacks and continuing to organize for anti-racist, culturally responsive schools: Winning Racial Justice in Our Schools: Resisting the Right Wing Attacks on Critical Race Theory. This toolkit offered as a means to understand the context and motivation of anti-CRT attacks, use effective talking points, utilize the media, take action through local organizing, advocate for anti-racist education policies, and urge liberals to run for school board. It accuses conservatives of accelerating racist strategies by attacking CRT, the term used to supposedly eliminate teaching about systemic racism in schools. Parents condemned for attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion and social-emotional learning. Anger that more than 2 dozen states have proposed or adopted anti-CRT legislation, dozens of school boards recalled, unelected, and vilified, and droves of angry white parents mobilizing themselves for the midterm elections to take back Congress. This resource implores parents, youth, educators, community groups, and advocacy organizations to join to resist these attacks and fight for schools that Teach Truth, to turn the energy, momentum, and public attention created by the attacks on CRT in schools into energy, momentum, and mobilization for truth-telling, anti-racism, and culturally responsive education. After global riots for racial justice that followed the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, right-wing groups across America allegedly instigated and intensified well-funded, orchestrated disinformation campaigns against CRT and other forms of racial and gender justice discourse. The authors virulently complain that, starting with the Trump Administration executive order banning federal agencies, contractors, and grant recipients from conducting trainings and programs that address systemic racism and sexism, this campaign now has morphed into a full-scale war against racial and gender justice, that the Right is using these attacks as a tool to mobilize right-wing voters, reclaim school boards, and win local, state and national elections that will allow them to pass policies to further cause criminalization of Blacks, voter suppression, and homophobic and transphobic legislation. The conservative goal supposedly is to continue advancing Trumpism by turning racial anxiety into political energy and power. See the entire leftist tirade at https://futureforlearning.org/2021/08/26/winning-racial-justice-in-our-schools/
TAKE ACTION NOW. These abusive strategies targeting conservative groups like NTF and outraged parents cannot go unanswered. To defend our reputations and champion the cause of ridding our public schools of CRT and perverted state education standards, taxpaying conservatives and parents must lobby their state senators immediately to join the team of state senators demanding an accounting from and sanctions against our state education dept. Using the information above, contact your state senator today! Email netaxpayers@gmail.com for senator contact information and join our NTF Legislature Watch Project.
Research, documentation, and analysis for this issue paper done by Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom. This material copyrighted by Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom, with express prior permission granted for its use by other groups in the NE Conservative Coalition Network. 10-22. C