NEBRASKA - Patsy Koch Johns didn’t know equity could be construed as a bad word until this year.

During Nebraska’s raging debate over proposed health education standards, critics charged that the Nebraska State Board of Education was trying to infuse the standards with equity.

“When I say ‘equity,’ I’ve even had people correct me and say ‘equality,’” said Koch Johns, the board’s vice president.

Equity has been a goal of educators for decades in the form of trying to close test score gaps by addressing challenges that impoverished students face.

But as race became the focus in a lot of American minds after the 2020 murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer, many educators across the county and in Nebraska reaffirmed their commitment to racial equity.

Critics of this focus on race in education see it both as divisive and as a kind of Trojan horse that could be used to usher in bad, even un-American, ideas.

The topic has become a source of controversy with the latest example coming last week as Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts criticized an equity plan launched by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Ricketts cited the focus on racial equity would promote critical race theory on campus, despite the University's president's denial of the claim.

The state's K-12 educators have been increasing their focus on equity as Members of the Nebraska State Board of Education adopted an “equity lens,” Nebraska Commissioner of Education Matt Blomstedt hired an equity officer in his department, Grand Island Public Schools outlined a commitment to equity and to "disrupting" individual and districtwide biases, and Lincoln Public Schools created a student-led Equity Cadre that advises district leaders on how to overcome biases and barriers.

Advocates say equity is about giving kids what they need, when they need it, to ensure their success, regardless of a child’s personal circumstances, background or challenges. That can mean supporting some kids with extra resources.

Critics are concerned that this will be done in the form of dumbing down grading policies and eliminating gifted programs.

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