LINCOLN- The Nebraska Association of School Boards and Gov. Pete Ricketts said this week that they disagree that federal assistance is needed to stop threats and acts of violence against school officials.

Ricketts urged members of the Nebraska State Board of Education to "push back" against what he called "overreach" that threatens the First Amendment rights of parents.

On his monthly radio call-in show and again at an afternoon news conference, Ricketts called the Department of Justice action an “absolute outrageous abuse of federal power.”

“This will have a huge chilling effect, and it’s meant to, to browbeat those parents into not going to school board meetings,” he said. “It’s just beyond the pale. We don’t live in the old Soviet Union here.”

The Nebraska association said it had no part in drafting the letter sent by the National School Boards Association to the Biden administration requesting help from federal law enforcement.

The Sept. 29 letter has drawn criticism from conservatives who feel that it equates parents upset over mask policies and critical race theory with terrorists.

"We did not approve of the letter and had no role in its drafting," the Nebraska group said.

The national group, in its letter, asked for the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Secret Service to investigate and prevent threats and acts of violence against school officials.

The letter cites several incidents at school board meetings nationally.

On Oct. 4, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland directed the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Offices to meet with federal, state, tribal, territorial, and local law enforcement leaders to discuss strategies for addressing such incidents.

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