LINCOLN- Last Friday, State Sen. Joni Albrecht proposed LR24CA, a legislative resolution seeking to dismantle Nebraska's State Board of Education and replace it with a governor-appointed education commissioner. If passed, the amendment would erase the Board's role in setting K-12 education policy. Currently, the Board sets the academic standards for math, language arts, science, and social studies.

Albrecht stated that she considers the legislative resolution a "conversation starter" for lingering frustrations about the Board's 2021 efforts to consider new health education and sex education standards. "We are the Legislature," said Albrecht, "We guide whether they can do what they did with...the health standards, and it's absurd that it's gone this far. But it only has because they didn't have to answer to anybody."

The new health standards proposed in 2021 by the Board of Education would have been optional for schools, but still drew an immense amount of ire and scrutiny from conservative voices in the state. Critics of the changes argued that the sex education portion offered too much information too soon to children around the state. The Nebraska Department of Education declined to comment on Albrecht's proposal, but former Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt testified against a similar proposal introduced last year.

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